Every afternoon in Gainesville High School’s upper campus parking lot, dozens of teen drivers crank up their cars and instinctively reach for their cell phones before pulling out on the road.

Under a proposed law to be introduced in the Georgia General Assembly this month, driving while using a hand-held cell phone would become illegal for drivers ages 15 to 18.

Legislation crafted by Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, would penalize first-time offenders with a fine of $175 and a point off their driver’s licenses.

A second offense would cost $500 and two points. An accident involving cell phone use would result in a 90-day license suspension.

Ramsey said the law, if approved, would be a logical extension of the graduated license requirements first imposed on young drivers in Georgia in 1997.

"The purpose of that law was to allow teens a learning period relatively free of distractions," Ramsey said.

The current requirements include limiting the number of teen passengers in a car and the hours in which younger drivers can be on the road.

"I can tell that when they wrote that law in 1997, if they had known that 60 percent of teenagers would be texting while driving, it would have been part of the law," Ramsey said, citing a national survey of young drivers.

Ramsey’s proposal was met with disapproval by teens interviewed outside Gainesville High School this week as they made their way to their cars.

"That’s preposterous," said senior Justin Cochran, 18. "What are the cops going to do? Pull over every person talking on a cell phone who they think looks like a teenager?"

Asked whether she could live without her cell phone while driving, 16-year-old Emily Tankersley replied with an emphatic, "no, no, no."

Her friend Caressa Franklin, 16, was blunt.

"I’d break that law every day," she said.

Ryan Free, 18, acknowledged he has sent text messages from his cell phone while driving. He said it can be done safely.

"You just have to know how to do it," Free said.

Ramsey said nationally, distractions while driving led to 5,000 fatal accidents involving teen drivers in 2007. In Georgia, more than 100 teens died in traffic accidents last year.

"I think we can do better than that," Ramsey said.

State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, has tried and failed the previous two legislative sessions to get a similar law passed. Her bill didn’t make it out of the House Rules Committee last year, but she has higher hopes for its chances this year. Oliver said she wants to work with Ramsey to get a prohibition on cell phone use by younger Class D drivers.

Oliver believes teen driving laws need to catch up to technology.

"There’s been an explosion of cell phones, PDAs and texting devices that are used in a very dangerous way," she said. "We know (young drivers are) inexperienced and we know they’re highly distractible."

Oliver said while most parents she has spoken with tell their teens not to talk on phones while driving, the warning doesn’t stick.

"Anybody driving down the road can see just about every young driver driving down the road with a cell phone to their ear or texting," she said.

Ramsey hopes a law with some teeth will get the attention of young drivers.

"Putting it on the books in and of itself would serve as a deterrent," Ramsey said. "You get one or two teenagers who get a ticket for this, the word’s going to get out."

Caroline Franklin, 15, said while cell phones may be distracting, they aren’t the only distractions encountered by drivers.

"What’s the difference between a cell phone and a radio or a person yelling in the passenger seat?" Franklin said.

Teens also say they don’t like being singled out.

"Cell phones cause distractions for adults, too," Cochran said.

Oliver and Ramsey would push for banning hand-held cell phone use by all drivers, but know such a bill would not have the support.

"I think we all need to minimize distractions, but I think the data is more compelling that we get at the most vulnerable drivers first," Ramsey said.

Free is not convinced he’s a vulnerable driver.

"I’m 18; I’m considered an adult," he said. "I would appreciate it if they left me alone."