Distracted Driving: Surprising Number of People Get It On While Driving

Unbelievable story from Wired - makes you scared to get out on the road - read:

Surprising Number of People Get It On While Driving | Autopia | Wired.com

Surprising Number of People Get It On While Driving
By Chuck Squatriglia June 1, 2010 | 10:00 am | Categories: Autopia WTF? Dept.


You don’t have to spend any amount of time driving to see people doing really stupid things behind the wheel, but we’re surprised by how many people are having sex while driving.

According to Jabra, which makes phone headsets, 15 percent of people surveyed said they “have performed sex or other sexual acts” while driving. There’s always the possibility people are claiming they’re getting freaky in traffic to sound cool, but the survey found many drivers are doing more than driving while commuting.

Jabra surveyed 1,800 people in six countries and says the study has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percent. People might have monkey-wrenched the online survey, but the findings are in line with some we’ve heard. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood calls distracted driving “a deadly epidemic” and says seven out 10 people use cellphones and other gadgets while driving. He’s working with automakers to address the issue.

As you’d expect, most of those surveyed — 72 percent — confessed to gobbling McFood or slurping a Frothed Milk Sugar-Laced Coffee-Flavored Beverage while driving. That’s to be expected when you realize most cars come with more cupholders than seats these days.

Another 35 percent said they’ve changed their clothes while driving, a feat we’d find exceedingly difficult because we drive a compact. Nearly one in four people admitted doing their hair and 13 percent said they apply makeup. It never ceases to amaze us when women apply mascara in traffic — putting a sharp object next to your eye while driving is just plain stupid.

Five percent of respondents said they shave behind the wheel. We’re assuming most of those are men, but we know of at least one case where a woman crashed while shaving her bikini line.

In this connected age, 28 percent of people say they text while driving (which is illegal in 26 states) and 12 percent say they read or send e-mail behind the wheel. Of course, just one-third of respondents are using headsets or other hands-free devices while yakking on their cellphones.

Another 10 percent said they read the paper while driving and 5 percent say they’ve played videogames.

“It is truly unbelievable what people are doing while driving,” said Jonas Forsberg of GN Netcom, which owns Jabra. “The results of our survey show that so many people are distracted and doing other things while on the road — even though they know the consequences that can occur. We hope that people will soon understand the implications of these bad behaviors and will change their own behavior accordingly.”

Yeah. Good luck with that.

David

Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/06/driving-distraction-survey/#ixzz0phpoH200

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