Feb. 11, 2020—Insurer Nationwide seeks to to curb crashes caused by drivers distracted by their mobile devices.

Nationwide CEO Kirt Walker today announced that his company is advocating for state lawmakers across the country to enact hands-free legislation allowing drivers to only use hands-free mobile phone technology while operating a motor vehicle. 

Currently, only 21 states including Georgia, Arizona, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia have such laws on the books. Nationwide strongly supports the recent announcement by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to strengthen Ohio's distracted driving laws as developed by a statewide Distracted Driving Task Force.

The company supports model legislation that enables law enforcement to ticket drivers who are holding a mobile device while operating a motor vehicle, including texting, viewing videos or images, entering data, talking or broadcasting content.