They come in all shapes in sizes, from the harried mom coordinating pickup and drop off times for her children while driving, a cell phone nestled against her ear, to the teen clandestinely texting his buddies from the phone positioned under his steering wheel.

And then there's the frazzled worker eating his lunch on the go and a woman applying her makeup while negotiating a left-hand turn.

They are all distracted drivers. They are among us. They are us. And they, according to many experts, are more dangerous than ever.


The agency also reported that on any given day in 2008, more than 800,000 vehicles were driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone.

Driving while distracted is a problem in Connecticut as well, despite a 2005 state that banned the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Those who violate the law face a $100 penalty.

Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, who pushed for the law for several years, said he's well aware people willfully violate it every day.

"For some people, it's just become habit," he said of cell phone use. "It disturbs me that people still do that."

The Connecticut Department of Transportation doesn't include distracted driving as a factor when compiling accident data, so state officials don't know how many fatal crashes involved inattentive motorists.

But state DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said distracted driving is as big a safety issue here as in the rest of the country. He said the problem has a lot to do with modern culture and the contemporary habit of multi-tasking -- even if one of the tasks requires one's full attention.

"I think there's something to be said for the pace at which we live our lives day to day," Nursick said. "The lifestyles we live have sped up considerably, and that has spilled into the area of operating motor vehicles."

Some efforts are being made to increase awareness of the risk of driving while distracted. Nursick said the state is changing the way it collects accident data, to include driver distraction as a possible factor.

"Obviously, this is something we want to be able to quantify in our state," he said.

The state has also applied for several hundred thousand dollars in grants from the Highway Traffic Safety Administration for enforcement, education and awareness programs that would focus on curtailing distracted driving.

The Connecticut State Police plan to focus on distracted driving during their annual holiday enforcement efforts.

But many experts agree that more needs to be done -- though no one has a simple solution.

Like Nursick, Roy thinks driver distraction is the result of the fast-paced world we live in. In fact, he said, as we've put a higher premium on speed and productivity, we've put less emphasis on motor vehicle safety in general.

"Drivers 50 years ago were much more conscious of the speed limit, much more conscious of traffic lights," Roy said. "People as a whole were much more law-abiding."

Today's drivers, he said, "are trying to do so many things at once." If accomplishing their goals for the day means using a phone while driving, they're likely to sacrifice safety to do it.

State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said the cell phone law is "well-enforced," and pointed to statistics showing tickets for violating the law have increased year to year. In 2006 state police gave out 2,969 tickets, compared to 6,252 in 2007 and 10,818 in 2008.

However, statistics from the state Judicial Branch show the number of cell phone violations passing through the state's court system between January and June of this year was 17,093 -- a decrease from the same time period last year, when 19,863 such cases passed through the courts.

It's unclear what all this means, but Vance is optimistic the law is having an impact on the state's drivers. "Have we reached 100 percent compliance? No," he said. "(But) it's definitely changing behaviors."

Roy agreed the law has made some difference, because many drivers have switched to hands-free devices.

One problem with the others might be that they don't see talking on a cell phone as a "crime," in the traditional sense of the word, said Charles Lieberman, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven and a former member of the New York Police Department.

In fact, he said "driving and speaking on a cell phone isn't a crime -- it's a violation of an administrative code."

Another problem is that enforcement of the law isn't consistent from municipality to municipality, Roy said. In urban areas with higher crime rates, enforcement of the cell phone law isn't as heavy as it is in more rural and suburban areas .

But that's probably as it should be, Roy said. "If someone gets shot, you want the police there. You don't want them to be giving out tickets to someone using a phone."

Roy isn't sure how to get more people to obey the cell phone law. Perhaps what's needed is something radical, like printing the names of all violators, he said.

"If people are embarrassed about seeing their names in print like that, that's something that might be considered along the line," Roy said.

Lieberman suggested the penalty for violating the cell phone law should be steeper. He said most people are motivated to obey laws by one of two factors.

"People are only going to obey a law if they believe the law is correct or if the penalty is strong enough to outweigh the benefits," he said.

Roy said he's heard that argument before, that raising the penalty for violating the cell phone law will make people to think twice.

He's also heard from police officers who said they'd be more likely to dole out tickets, as opposed to warnings, if the penalty were lower. It's hard to know what the right answer is, he said.

Vance suggested it could be as simple as the passage of time. He said it sometimes takes people awhile to comply with laws, particularly those that require them to alter habits that have been ingrained over the years.

When the law requiring seat belt use first went into effect many people disregarded it, but over time the bulk of state drivers complied.

Nursick said, it's important to remember cell phone use isn't the only activity stealing the attention of the state's drivers.

"Distracted driving has always been an issue, predating electronic gadgetry," he said. Before cell phones, drivers were distracted by eating, fiddling with car radios, and even arguing with fellow passengers.

Nursick said no matter what action legislators, state officials and law enforcement officers take, the responsibility for safer driving ultimately rests with the motorists themselves.

"It's the driver's responsibility to operate that vehicle safely," he said. "You're looking for folks to step up and be adults about this."