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One candidate for Minnesota governor is promising new ideas, including a controversial proposal to fine drivers who cause accidents through distracted driving.

Independence Party candidate Peter Hutchinson says drivers who talk on cell phones, apply make up or eat and cause accidents should be considered liable.

”Listen to the morning traffic report – it’s not mostly about too many cars on too little road,” Hutchinson says. “It's about too many drivers causing too many dumb things that back up traffic mile after mile.”

One driver, Colleen Schleede, agrees, but says enforcement could be difficult.

”I think it would be hard to enforce, because who's going to say, ‘Oh yeah, I was turning around talking to the kids,’ or, ‘I was talking on my cell phone.’”

Hutchinson responds that a typical investigation would be able to determine driver distraction.

“You go investigate,” he says. “If the mascara brush is lying around, if the half-eaten hamburger is sitting there, I think you have prima facie evidence that people have not been paying attention.”

No data exists on the number of accidents caused by distracted drivers, but some studies suggest that two to five percent of accidents are caused by cell phone use.

That percentage could translate into 2,000 to 5,000 crashes per year in Minnesota.