The Norman Transcript

Opinion

March 16, 2013

We talk, text, drive more

NORMAN — A new survey about talking and texting while driving found the dangerous practice is more widespread in the U.S. than in seven European countries.

The results comes as Oklahoma lawmakers consider a driving and texting ban as other states have done.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 69 percent of U.S. drivers said they talked on a cell phone while driving within the previous month. Additionally, 31 percent of U.S. drivers reported reading or sending texts or e-mails while driving.

The numbers are higher here than in European countries. Only 21 percent of United Kingdom drivers reported talking on their phones while driving. Only Portugal came close to the U.S. at 59 percent.

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