Defining Driving Distractions
The US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is an avid activist against the “deadly epidemic” of distracted driving. The Danish mobile phone headset company Jabra published survey results on May 27 showing how drivers are constantly distracted.
Jabra surveyed North Americans, Europeans and Asians, learning that people do a lot of odd things while driving, including:
- 72 per cent admitted to eating food regularly
- 29 per cent of respondents admitted to kissing others
- 15 per cent said they had sex or [performed] other sexual acts
- 28 per cent confirmed they text
- 25 per cent admitted to changing clothes
- 5 per cent have shaved
- 25 per cent admitted to styling their hair or changing clothes while the car is in motion
- 13 per cent reported they apply makeup
- 10 per cent also reported reading newspapers or magazines
- 5 per cent confessed to playing video games
- 12 per cent admitted to writing or reading emails
According to Insurance.com, a US insurance information site, there are three especially dangerous food groups to avoid on the road: hot, greasy and gooey. Hot, best exemplified when a woman drove into an Oregon river on May 30 while adding sugar to her coffee.
Jonas Forsberg of GN Netcom which owns Jabra told tech magazine Wired, “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 behaviours and will change their own behaviour accordingly.”
“It is truly unbelievable what people are doing while driving,” said Forsberg. In March, a Floridian crashed while attempting to shave her bikini line en route to visit her boyfriend with her ex-husband (where to begin).
The highway trooper on the scene Gary Dunick said to news station WJZ.com, “If I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have believed it. About 10 years ago I stopped a guy in the exact same spot … who had three or four syringes sticking out of his arm. It was just surreal and I thought, ‘Nothing will ever beat this.’ Well, this takes it.” — AFP