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by Magee Hickey
RIDGEFIELD, N.J. (CBS/AP) ― Put down your cell phone while behind the wheel! Drivers in New Jersey could soon be hanging up their hand-held cell phones. Lawmakers are pushing a bill that would make the Garden State the latest to ban talking while driving.

New Jersey drivers may soon have to quit sending text messages, yakking on a hand-held cell phone and careening through red lights.

Two Assembly panels Thursday pushed forward legislation which would make it illegal to send text messages while driving, give police more power to target drivers using a hand-held cell phone and allow towns to install cameras to catch drivers disobeying red lights.

The proposals can now be considered by the full Assembly.

Under one proposal, New Jersey would be the first state to both make it illegal to send text messages while driving and allow police to ticket drivers whenever they're seen using a hand-held cell phone. The two proposals were merged into a single bill Thursday.

New Jersey in 2004 made it illegal to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving, but police can ticket a driver only if they're stopped for another infraction. The proposal advanced Thursday would allow police to ticket any driver using a hand-held phone while driving.

Only California, Connecticut and New York have such laws, as does Washington, D.C., according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A California study found cell phones were cited in 11 percent of inattention-related crashes, more than any other factor.

"There's a lot of distractions, but cell phones are one of the biggest distraction and the cause of many, many accidents," said Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, a bill sponsor.

A recent survey by Nationwide Insurance estimated 73 percent of drivers use cell phones and 20 percent text while driving.

Washington recently became the first state to ban texting while driving.

"It's very, very dangerous," said Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, who has pushed a New Jersey texting-while-driving ban.

Violators of the texting and cell phone bans would face $250 fines.

Safety advocates said New Jersey needs legislation tackling all driver distractions.

"We continue to believe that it's the conversation, not the cell phone, that causes distraction," said David Weinstein of AAA Mid-Atlantic. "AAA would be comfortable supporting an all-encompassing driver distraction bill."

Meanwhile, another panel released a plan to allow towns to put cameras at intersections to take photos of drivers running red lights. The plan would be set up as a two-year pilot program to test whether they cut accidents.

"This is a way of augmenting law enforcement on a limited budget," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D- Middlesex.

Violators would get tickets in the mail featuring images of their vehicle running a red light. Authorities could assume the owner was driving, making owners liable for fines up to $140, but not points, unless they prove someone else was driving.

Such cameras are used in 22 states and more than 200 cities, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which did a study in Philadelphia that found the cameras, combined with longer yellow lights, cut red light violations by 96 percent.

But Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox recently declared use of red light and speed cameras to be illegal, while a Minnesota judge struck down red light cameras, saying it was wrong to ticket car owners if it wasn't clear they were driving.

Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, R-Ocean, was the lone legislator to vote against the camera proposal.

"I can't help but think a Big Brother mentality is starting to invade," he said.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)