UPDATE: The state House transportation committee unanimously passed Thursday morning HB62, which bans texting while driving.

Armed with two more years of evidence that texting while driving is killing hundreds of Texans each year, State Rep. Tom Craddick is back in Austin advocating a statewide ban on sending and reading messages behind the wheel.

Craddick, R-Midland, was joined by numerous supporters Thursday morning in front of the House Transportation Committee. HB 62, a general ban on texting while driving, is again named for Alex Brown, a 17-year-old West Texas high school senior killed Nov. 10, 2009, when she crashed her truck as she carried on up to four different texting conversations at the time of the crash.

Since, Brown’s parents have become vocal advocates for a texting ban, which has faced a very uphill battle in Texas. Craddick’s bill and similar others have failed to get enough traction to pass both legislative chambers and receive the governor’s signature.

In 2011, the bill came close before then-Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it, citing his concerns with "a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults."

Forty-six states ban texting while driving, and 17 ban the use of all handheld devices.

Craddick said on Thursday that lack of action has likely cost lives. In 2015, the last year for which confirmed statewide data is available, 476 people were killed in accidents in Texas where distracted driving was involved.

“This is the most dangerous thing we will ever do is drive a car. So let’s make it as safe as possible,” said State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville, one of 33 co-authors on the bill.