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Picture the following scenario: you’re driving your normal route to work, minding your own business.Â Then, out of the corner of your eye, you see that the car next to you started to slowly veer into your lane.Â You look over and see the driver next to you is busy texting.

How many times has this very scenario happened to you?Â Or, more importantly, how many times have you been the driver guilty of texting while driving?

It is currently illegal to text while driving in six states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington.Â Attempts to ban text messaging are currently being made by many more states as well.

Are these bans prime examples of state governments overstepping their bounds and interfering with private matters, or should every state step up and ban texting while driving in an effort to protect “innocent” motorists?

According to a recent poll on Daily Fuel Economy Tip, a vast majority of drivers believe in the latter (banning texting) over the former (not banning).Â Here’s how nearly 200 readers responded when asked: “Do you think it should be illegal to text while driving?”

78% said texting while driving should be illegal

19% said texting while driving should not be illegal

3% said they were unsure or had no opinion

These numbers are pretty overwhelming, and since I’m sure many state legislatures have seen similar data, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see a spike in the number of states passing laws against driving while texting.

And, for that matter, I’m sure we’ll see even more states requiring the use of a hands-free device in order to use a cell phone while driving.

If it helps to make the roads safer for drivers and pedestrians, I don’t see why we wouldn’t all be for that!