President Barack Obama signed an Executive order on Wednesday prohibiting all federal employees from text-messaging while driving on government business.
Transportation Secretary Ray La-Hood will make the announcement later on Thursday as part of his closing remarks at the Distracter Driver Summit which has put emphasis in combating distracted driving.
“This order sends a very clear signal to the American public that distracted driving is dangerous and unacceptable," LaHood is expected to say at the summit.
Last year 5,870 people died in the United States as a result of distracted driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. It is not clear how many of them lost their lives because of texting while driving.
Eighteen states have banned hand-held texting by drivers, and legislation is being considered to withhold 25 percent of federal highway dollars from states that fail to enforce texting while driving.
