Drivers Gone Wild
If you thought typing a text message while dodging traffic at 65 mph was dangerous (it is), consider the perils of shaving your legs, reading a book or lifting weights while driving — all of which (and more) are happening on America's roads — every day.
By Clarie Martin of MSN Autos
Jodie Feigler was driving south on Interstate 405, heading from Santa Barbara, Calif., to San Diego for the weekend, when she got stuck in Friday rush-hour traffic near the Los Angeles International Airport. "The freeway was one big parking lot that inched along collectively," Feigler recollects. While this is nothing special (bumper-to-bumper traffic is a typical Southern California scene), what happened next is: "I glanced to my right and there was a woman with her left foot sticking out the driver's window painting her toe nails." Feigler couldn't believe it.
While this might seem like careless behavior, judging from the results of several recent studies on driving behavior, a self-administered pedicure behind the wheel may not be as unusual as you'd expect. Multitasking is on the rise and, increasingly, the car presents an opportunity to get things done — especially in cities where long commutes are common.
The Things Drivers Do
In a survey by GMAC Insurance of more than 5,000 drivers, 8 percent admitted to changing clothes while their cars were in gear and 62 percent copped to eating. Other studies have shown that people routinely apply makeup, shave, read magazines and books, and even insert their contact lenses while in the drivers' seat.
California resident Todd Thedinga reports having seen a Honda Accord being used as a makeshift gym: "I was in heavy traffic when I passed a middle-aged guy doing bicep curls with his left arm. When I looked over again later, he was working on his right arm."
In 2003, the case of Catherine Donkers, a young mother who was arrested while driving from Detroit to Pittsburgh, made national headlines. Troopers had observed Donkers breastfeeding her 6-month-old baby while traveling 65 mph on the Ohio Turnpike. She was charged with child endangerment. In 2008, Canadian newspapers reported that a woman was arrested for careless driving in Ontario after she lost control of her car on an icy road and crashed into a sign post. She'd been eating a bowl of cereal.
According to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, which compiles statistics on automobile accidents, distracted driving was a factor in more than 45,000 crashes in 2007. Legislators in seven states and the District of Columbia have banned text messaging while driving, and in five states and Washington, D.C., talking on the phone without a hands-free device is illegal. But does curling your hair, doing a crossword puzzle or eating a burrito pose a significant enough distraction to warrant legislation?
State legislators in Maine are debating this question in the wake of an incident in which a state trooper observed a woman watching an episode of Gilmore Girls on her laptop while speeding down the Maine Turnpike. State Sen. William Diamond has proposed a bill that would penalize drivers for any activity that draws their attention away from the road.
Sobering Statistics, Hard Data
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sponsored a study in 2007 that provided the first solid data on the ramifications of distracted driving. NHTSA, along with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, installed cameras and sensors in 100 cars for a year to observe participants' behavior in a natural setting. In their analysis of 42,300 hours of driving data, researchers discovered that 80 percent of crashes involved driver distraction and that inattentive drivers were two to three times more likely to be involved in accidents when they were engaged in tasks such as applying makeup, dialing a phone or reading. "The complex behaviors that require multiple eye glances or multiple button presses contribute to 25 percent of the crashes and near crashes in the population," according to Virginia Tech researcher Sheila Klauer.
A recent study of cell-phone use while driving, published in the journal Brain Research, helps explain why. When the brain is asked to tackle two tasks at once, it gives priority to the more deeply ingrained skill. Since we learn to talk before we learn to drive, our brain power goes into the conversation instead of onto the road, causing us to miss visual cues and experience impaired peripheral vision and coordination. Researchers suggest that the same holds true for other distracting activities, which means that magazine-reading, mascara-applying and toddler-disciplining drivers are very likely at the same risk of accidents as cell phone users.
Imagine, then, what occurs in the brain of someone engaged in not just two activities, but three or four. Talking, eating and driving. Driving, shaving and singing. Perhaps the most outlandish documented example of multitasking while driving comes from research conducted by Nationwide Insurance in 2007: A respondent from San Antonio, Texas, admitted to having shaved her legs, eaten a taco, applied makeup and consumed an alcoholic beverage all at the same time. Against the odds, she lived to tell her story.
Claire Martin has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Outside magazine. She's the former deputy editor of Men's Journal and currently lives in Los Angeles, where she covers technology, travel and food.
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