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(Jackson, TN) Mississippi lawmakers had the chance to make it illegal to text and drive in their state, but they didn’t take it.

Legislation to make it illegal passed earlier this week, but then a motion was made to reconsider it.

There was confusion whether the bill pertained to just drivers under 18 years of age or to all drivers.

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Before there could be a vote, the legislative session was over.

Mississippi does ban texting for beginning drivers and bus drivers.

According to distraction.gov, “The number of people killed in distraction-affected crashes decreased slightly from 3,360 in 2011 to 3,328 in 2012. An estimated 421,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver, this was a nine percent increase from the estimated 387,000 people injured in 2011.”

The next chance to introduce the legislation will be until January 2015.

April is distracted driving awareness month across the country, but that didn’t convince Mississippi lawmakers to pass a texting and driving ban.

Tennessee bans texting as does Arkansas while driving.

Missouri bans texting and driving by those under 21 years old and by commercial drivers.

See bans in all states regarding distracted driving.