State Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, is proposing a law that would ban texting while driving.

Diamond was a driving force behind a law passed in the last session that made it against the law to drive while distracted, which would include texting on a cell phone.

The current proposal takes it a step further to specifically ban texting.

“Evidence continues to grow that as mobile phone technology expands, more and more people are taking advantage of options like texting, e-mailing, and Internet browsing,” Diamond said in a press release. “Unfortunately, the statistics and surveys all demonstrate that drivers are taking advantage of these mobile texting and Internet technologies while operating a vehicle.”

A recent survey by AAA said one in seven drivers admitted text messaging while driving, Diamond said.

“While Maine took a big step forward passing a distracted driver law in 2009, it is clear to me now that measure deals more with the effect,” Diamond said. “The proposed ban on texting while driving I have put forward deals better with the cause of the problem.”