Washington ? Send police on a mission and they will catch a bucketload of people violating laws against cellphone use behind the wheel, but laws without enforcement seem to get ignored.

Those conclusions reflect the results from recent federally funded crackdowns in New York and Connecticut and a roadside survey in Southern California.

What to do about a practice widely seen as a danger on the highway becomes the subject today of the second national meeting of transportation experts, safety advocates and police convened by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Since LaHood’s first summit on the subject a year ago, the number of states that ban use of handheld cellphones has risen to eight and the number that prohibit text messages has increased to 30. Legislation in Congress would dangle additional funding to states which ban both.

In what might be a turning point, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) will consider whether to endorse a complete ban on cellphone use while driving when it begins its annual meeting on Sunday.

Though the GHSA is little known among the general public, endorsement of a total ban could prove a pivotal moment in swaying the debate over the technology America has come to love and the risk it poses on the roadway. The GHSA, made up of state highway safety officials from across the nation, carries clout in the transportation community, and other groups could follow its lead.

The nonprofit National Safety Council already is on record favoring a total prohibition. The council has estimated that cellphone use is responsible for 1.4 million crashes a year, about 28 percent of the national total.

Although LaHood launched his distracted-driving crusade with an attack on text messaging, he’s not been shy about his belief that all cellphone use is too dangerous to be tolerated.

“We’ve taken some baby steps,” he said last week. “Now we have to take some giant leaps. This issue of distracted driving is as significant as drunk driving.”