The Department of Transportation Friday proposed banning interstate truck and bus drivers from using hand-held cell phones while operating a commercial motor vehicle, and sets stiff fines for violators.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety drew an angry rebuke from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood over a study the group released that showed no relation between texting bans and fewer car crashes.

The Governors Highway Safety Association has decided not to endorse complete bans on cellphone use while driving, the Washington Post reported Monday.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced that the Obama administration intends to issue a broader ban on texting while driving aimed at closing a jurisdictional loophole involving intrastate haulers of hazardous materials.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday that the federal government would seek to ban text messaging by all drivers hauling hazardous materials.

A federal rule banning truck drivers from texting while driving has been sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget, in advance of Tuesday’s distracted driving summit being hosted by the Department of Transportation in Washington.

The fine for texting or talking on a cell phone could become as high as $500 in New Jersey under a bill approved Monday by the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee.

The Department of Transportation has announced the agenda for its second Distracted Driving Summit, scheduled for Sept. 21 in Washington.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood encouraged the nation’s safest truck drivers to play an active role in combating distracted driving. “Distracted driving is an epidemic in America,” LaHood said in a speech Aug. 5 during the National Truck Driving Championships.

Truckers in New Jersey using two-way radios are now exempted from the state’s ban on driving while using handheld communication devices.