Over the last seven years, most states have banned texting by drivers, and public service campaigns have tried a wide range of methods to persuade people to put down their phones when they are behind the wheel.

Yet the problem, by just about any measure, appears to be getting worse. Americans are still texting while driving, as well as using social networks and taking photos. Road accidents, which had fallen for years, are now rising sharply.

That is partly because people are driving more, but Mark Rosekind, the chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said distracteddriving was "only increasing, unfortunately."

"Big change requires big ideas." he said in a speech last month, referring broadly to the need to improve road safety. So to try to change a distinctly modern behavior, lawmakers and public health experts are reaching back to an old approach: They want to treat distracted driving like drunk driving.

An idea from lawmakers in New York is to give police officers a new device called the Textalyzer. It would work like this: An officer arriving at the scene of a crash could ask for the phones of the drivers and use the Textalyzer to check in the operating system for recent activity. The technology could determine whether a driver had just texted, emailed or done anything else that is not allowed under New York's hands-free driving laws.

"We need something on the books that can change people's behavior," said Félix W. Ortiz, who pushed for the state's 2001 ban on hand-held devices by drivers. If the Textalyzer bill becomes law, he said, "people are going to be more afraid to put their hands on the cell phone."

Questions:
question_stem: Which of the following best describes the ban on drivers' texting in the US?
choices: tag: A
text: Ineffective.

tag: B
text: Unnecessary.

tag: C
text: Inconsistent.

tag: D
text: Unfair.
answer_key: A

question_stem: What can the Textalyzer help a police officer find out?
choices: tag: A
text: Where a driver came from.

tag: B
text: Whether a driver used their phone.

tag: C
text: How fast a driver was going.

tag: D
text: When a driver arrived at the scene.
answer_key: B

question_stem: What does the underlined word "something" in the last paragraph refer to?
choices: tag: A
text: Advice.

tag: B
text: Data.

tag: C
text: Tests.

tag: D
text: Laws.
answer_key: D

question_stem: What is a suitable title for the text?
choices: tag: A
text: To Drive or Not to Drive? Think Before You Start

tag: B
text: Texting and Driving? Watch Out for the Textalyzer

tag: C
text: New York Banning Hand-Held Devices by Drivers

tag: D
text: The Next Generation Cell Phone: The Textalyzer
answer_key: B