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16 percent of Michigan drivers say they text, email

LANSING, Mich. — A poll reports a doubling in the percentage of Michigan drivers who acknowledge they text or use email while behind the wheel since the previous survey two years earlier.

The state police's Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning said Wednesday that 16.3 percent of the 600 people polled Jan. 13-16 acknowledge either texting or emailing while driving. A survey in 2012 found that 8.2 percent acknowledged testing or emailing behind the wheel.

The office says Glengariff Group Inc. carried out the poll, which has a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points up or down.

It says 58.7 percent of Michigan motorists acknowledge making and accepting phone calls while driving. That's about the same as the 56.5 percent who acknowledged phoning in the 2012 survey.

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