( CNN ) -- You 've been in an accident . The police officer goes through the normal drill , asking for your license and registration . Then she goes a step further . `` Could I have your cellphone , please ? '' she says . New legislation proposed by a New Jersey state Sen. James Holzapfel would let cops confiscate cellphones if they have `` reasonable grounds '' to believe that the driver was talking or texting when the wreck occurred . Officers would be required to return the phone after thumbing through its history . `` A lot of your accidents are happening due to distracted driving , '' Fair Lawn Police Sgt . Brian Metzler told CNN affiliate News 12 . The trick , he said , is proving it . `` They 're just going to say they 're not paying attention . 'Were you on the cellphone ? ' 'No , I was n't the cellphone ' and it ends right there . '' The legislation is designed to cut down on distracted driving . But it comes at a time when revelations that the government has been monitoring our phone calls and online activities have shaken our sense of privacy . The bill set off alarm bells with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey . `` Our State and Federal Constitutions generally require probable cause before authorizing a search , particularly when it comes to areas that contain highly personal information such as cellphones , '' said Alexander Shalom of the ACLU-NJ . `` The legislature can not authorize searches unless there is probable cause , therefore the bill is likely susceptible to a constitutional challenge . '' Distracted Driving Laws . The distraction of technology . While the New Jersey bill is a bold new move in the battle against distracted driving , driver distractions are hardly new . Everything from billboards , to beautiful scenery , to pretty girls , have distracted drivers since the advent of automobiles . But new technologies are creating a growing storm of distractions for drivers , like cellphone apps , GPS units and music players , with the thousands of songs they put at our fingertips . In addition to taking a driver 's eyes off the road and hands off the wheel , the devices can engage people 's minds so that they 're paying less attention to the task of driving , experts say . The cost of distracted driving . An often-quoted study on distracted driving known as the `` 100 car study '' was conducted in 2003 and 2004 -- before the introduction of Facebook ( 2004 ) , Twitter ( 2006 ) , the iPhone ( 2007 ) , and iPhone apps ( 2008 ) . Since then , 11 states have banned talking on hand-held cellphones while driving , and 41 states have outlawed texting when operating a motor vehicle . Earlier this year , U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said some 3,000 people were killed and 387,000 injured in 2011 in accidents involving distracted drivers . But police reports are not a reliable source of information for the cause of distracted driving accidents , said Anne McCartt of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety . The cause of accidents is frequently not reported , and there are very large differences across the states , McCartt said . The best studies , she said , used phone records to determine if drivers were possibly distracted at the time of a crash , she said . Just what New Jersey has in mind . Information from a report by Mike M. Ahlers is included in this story .
Cops could check texting and phone call logs under a New Jersey law . The state has expressed concerns with the legislation . Distracted driving concerns federal and state officials .