new york • Ninety-one per cent of Americans believe sending text messages while driving is as dangerous as driving after having a couple of drinks, but 57 per cent admit to doing it, a poll released yesterday said.

The Harris Interactive survey commissioned by mobile messaging service Pinger Inc. found 89 per cent of respondents believe texting while driving is dangerous and should be outlawed.

Even so, 66 per cent of the adults surveyed who drive and use text messaging told pollsters they had read text messages or e-mails while driving. Fifty-seven per cent admitted to sending them.

The state of Washington in May passed the first ban in the United States on texting while driving and at least six other states including New York, California and Florida are considering similar legislation, Pinger said in a statement releasing the survey results.

The survey found that men and women sent text messages while driving at equal rates but that the young did so more frequently. Sixty-four per cent of those who admitted to sending text messages while driving were aged 18 to 34 while six per cent were 55 or older.

The poll surveyed 2,049 U.S. adults from June 29 to July 3.