Downtown Tulsa -
Law enforcement agents and city leaders met Monday to discuss a problem of Oklahoma drivers - texting behind the wheel.
The Crime Commission, Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers, city councilors and senators gathered at City Hall Monday to educate the public on the hazards of texting and driving.
Officer Craig Murray of the Tulsa Police Department says if you are on the highway and take your eyes of the road for five seconds to read a text, you could travel the distance of a football field.
"All too often, we see friends, family, loved ones go to the scene of a crash and there's a phone laying in the seat. We know someone's been on the phone. They may have been talking, they may have been texting, they may have been looking at it; they're not there to take that text anymore," Murray says.
OHP Trooper Betsey Randolph says if you've taken your eyes off the road to read a text, you know how scary it is to have gone over the center line and been in the path of an oncoming car.
If you see anyone driving unsafely on the highway, call *55 from your cell phone to let troopers know.
"We'd be happy to visit with that person and find out what exactly is keeping their mind occupied and not on the roadway," Randolph says.
