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Oklahoma group pushing to make texting while driving illegal

Everyone knows texting while driving is dangerous, but a group in Oklahoma wants to do something about it.

Drive Safe Oklahoma is a group that includes law enforcement, safety organizations and Generation tXt.

Generation tXt is a group of teenagers who says they are as concerned as adult drivers because of what they have seen in their own schools.

“I was interested because a lot of my friends are driving,” Cole Inhofe said.

Yes, that is a very recognizable last name and yes, he is the grandson of Senator Jim Inhofe.

“I was worried about what would happen with them so I decided that I wanted to be a part of this,” Cole went on.

Anders Broussard is also a teenager.

She told KRMG she has seen what texting and distracted driving can do.

“Last year there was a girl at our school that, we don’t know the exact cause of her accident but there’s a very good chance she was texting.”

We asked Andres how bad that accident turned out to be.

“She passed away,” she said softly.

Hear the teenagers comments with one click.

Tulsa Police Traffic Coordinator Craig Murray told us spotting a distracted driver is a great deal like another task officers have.

“A lot of times it’s kind of the same thing as looking for a drunk driver,” Craig explained further. “They’re weaving, they’re stopped at a green light or the fact that their heads down and the vehicle is moving forward."

Click here to listen to the entire interview with officer Murray.

There is already an ordinance against texting while driving in Tulsa.

Additionally, drivers with a permit and those operating buses are also prohibited from texting while behind the wheel.

Generation text wants to do more.

“The next step for Oklahoma is to get a law passed which bans texting and driving for all age drivers,” Inhofe said.

Murray admitted that while a law would be great, but it might be a tough sell.

“I think it’s going to be,” he nodded.

Craig compared the campaign to one they went through before “back in 1996 when we started pushing for the seatbelt law, the fact that you could show X number of people were dying on the roads and how many we could save by having seatbelts.”

That law eventually passed, but not without substantial discussion.

39 other states already ban texting while driving.

Generation tXt and Drive Safe Oklahoma want the Sooner State to be number 40.

To sign a petition that will be presented to lawmakers, click here and please vote on our poll before you leave the page.

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