The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today recommended a complete nationwide ban on the use of all portable electronic devices in vehicles even with Bluetooth connectivity, with the exception of portable GPS navigation and calling 911. The recommendation is likely to continue the discussion in Congress and within the states as to what role the government should play in setting laws that ban cell phone use behind the wheel, and how best to address this safety problem.

The recommendation stems from the NTSB’s report on their investigation into a 2010 accident in Missouri involving two school buses, which killed two people and injured 38 others. The Board concluded that the cause of the accident was due to texting by the 19-year-old driver of a pickup truck who set off the chain of events that led to the deadly pileup. According to NTSB, the driver sent 11 texts in the 11 minutes before the accident, including one “right before impact.”

The NTSB recommends that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) use high visibility enforcement to support the bans, as they did in their distracted driving pilot program in Syracuse, NY, and Hartford, CT, last year and as they do to enforce seat belt and drunk driving laws.

The agency also recommends that cell-phone companies develop features that disable the functions of portable devices by drivers when vehicles are in motion, allowing them only to be used in emergency situations. Further, they want technology to be able to distinguish driver and passenger seating positions.

Just last week, NHTSA released their 2010 vehicle fatalities report and noted that distracted driving caused 3,092 deaths and that 66 percent of drivers answer the phone behind the wheel and continue to drive.

Currently, just 10 states and the District of Columbia ban talking on a hand-held cell phone. Texting is banned for all drivers in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

For more on distracted driving, see our special section.