Officials in one of the three states that have bans on handheld cell phone use while driving are considering making their rule a little tougher.

New Jersey acting Gov. Richard Codey is calling for lawmakers to permit police to pull over drivers solely for violating the ban. Currently, drivers there can only be cited for using a handheld device when they are stopped for another offense, such as speeding.

Existing New Jersey law fines drivers between $100 and $250 for using their cell phones while driving. The rule limits drivers to the use of “hands-free” devices, but still allows drivers to dial, answer and turn on their cell phones.

In New York driving while holding a phone is a primary offense, meaning drivers can be pulled over for it. In Connecticut , a law goes into effect Saturday, Oct. 1, make driving while holding a phone a primary offense.

As a secondary offense, New Jersey ’ law led to 11,400 citations being issued during a one-year period ending Aug. 31.

In comparison, New York ’s law resulted in 100,250 citations – and the fine revenue that comes with them – in the first 15 months of enforcement.

Codey’s push to strengthen New Jersey ’s cell phone restriction comes as studies have shown that hands-free and hand-held cell phones are equally distracting.

A recent study by John Hopkins University in Baltimore found the human brain couldn’t simultaneously give full attention to both auditory and visual tasks.

“Our research helps explain why talking on a cell phone can impair driving performance, even when the driver is using a hands-free device,” Steven Yantis, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the university, said in a written statement. “When attention is deployed to one modality – say, in this case, talking on the cell phone – it necessarily extracts a cost on another modality – in this case, the visual task of driving.”

In other words, if you’re on the phone, you’re brain can’t devote as much attention to driving.