The Iowa State House Transportation Committee is drafting a bill that would further restrict Iowa’s distracted driving laws. State Representative Jon Thorup of Knoxville, a state trooper, serves on the committee. He says this is still a major issue, and the goal is to reduce serious accidents due to people using electronic devices behind the wheel.

“I wouldn’t say it’s extremely popular, a lot of people don’t want to see that law become more restrictive, but I can tell you there’s a lot of families that have lost someone or had someone injured in an accident. They certainly don’t feel it’s too restrictive. In fact, I’ve told people that it’s a little hard to keep statistics on how many accidents are caused by someone looking at a cell phone, iPad, whatever. But I firmly believe that more people are dying now and being seriously injured in accidents because of being distracted while driving versus, say, drunk driving.”

Hear more from State Representative Jon Thorup on today’s Let’s Talk Knoxville.