Virginia Distracted Driving Safety Campaign

If you use a cell phone or text while driving, Virgina wants you to hang up, especially when driving through a construction zone.

It's a simple warning from highway officials concerned that you or your neighbors may be paying less attention to the road and more attention to your cell phone when motoring past highway construction.

"Orange cones, no phones. When you see the orange cones, you're in a work zone," says Lon Anderson, from Triple A Mid-Atlantic. "Stuff happens really quick there, hang up."

Anderson says new conclusions compiled by Triple A and highway construction firm Transurban reveal that more than half the drivers on the Capital Beltway regularly use their cell while driving. In addition, these drivers are twice as likely to have an accident as a result. Those who text while driving are three times as likely to have an accident, especially when driving through a construction zone.

"We've got heavy construction on this road with workers who's lives are at risk and also drivers who's lives are at risk, so this is an important message," says Anderson.

Eighteen states including Virginia have laws in place which ban cell phone use and, or texting while driving. With construction of new high occupancy toll lanes well underway, Virginia highway police warn they will stop distracted drivers who somehow didn't get the message.

Elliott Francis reports...