When it comes to texting behind the wheel, the people who should be the role models are setting a really bad example.

A new AT&T survey of more than 1,000 adults found 49% of them admit texting while driving--compared to 43% of teenagers.  Not only that, 98% of adults say they do so even though they know it's unsafe. 

Former NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker calls it an epidemic, citing recent CDC statistics.

"Nine people killed every day on the highway, 1,060 injured--that tells me that these laws [banning the practice of texting while driving] don't seem to be working very well," says Rosenker. 

Georgia, 38 other states and the District of Columbia have some version of laws banning texting behind the wheel.

Virginia Tech researchers found the typical text takes a driver's eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds--about the time it takes to drive down a football field at 55 miles per hour.