Mediacaster Magazine reports that after AMEC banned employees from using cell phones while driving for a year, the company's employees are "thankful" for the experience -- and have asked to have the ban made permanent.

"Our employees are thankful to be banned from the 'wireless leash,'" says company communications manager John Kageorge. "They have been part of a one-year experiment. Today, 83% of them are spending more of their car time talking with family instead of a cell phone."

95 percent of the company's employees, Kageorge reports, said they did not experience a decrease in productivity as a result, and 97 percent felt that talking on a cell phone impacts a person's ability to drive safely.

"I was worried about how I would get things done when I heard about the policy," says AMEC's Susan Brown. "I didn't think it would work, but one year into it, I am really pleased with the impact it has had on my life. I find that I'm still meeting my objectives and my deadlines while feeling safer and less harried, which allows me to focus on the things that are important to me."