WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A vast majority of Americans says texting while driving should be illegal, with many saying it should be punished like drunken driving, a poll indicates.

A New York Times/CBS News poll released Monday indicated 97 percent of respondents back the prohibition of sending text messages while driving -- which the newspaper said was an unusually high level of agreement for any topic -- while 80 percent also supported a ban on talking on a hand-held cellphones while driving.

One-half of the respondents told pollsters the punishment for texting while driving should be just as severe as for drunken driving.

"Someone who is texting creates just as much of a danger as someone behind the wheel who is inebriated," Michael Brooks, 38, of Limerick, Pa., told the Times.

But Jim Deane, 31, of Idyllwild, Calif., disagreed, saying, "It should be illegal because you have to take your eyes off the road, but I don't think it reaches the same point as drunk driving because the driver is not impaired for the entire time."

The Times said the poll was conducted Oct. 5-8 with 829 adults and carried a margin of error of 3 percentage points.



Copyright 2009 by United Press International

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