Dangerous Driving: Many U.S. Drivers Admit to Risky Habits
A large proportion of U.S. drivers admit to being dangerously distracted while driving, a new poll shows.
According to the new Harris Interactive/Healthday poll of 2,810 U.S. adults conducted in November, 86 percent of U.S. adults admitted to eating/ drinking while driving, 59 percent said they talked on a non-hands-free cell phone, 44 percent said they momentarily doze off, and 37 percent said they texted.
"The number of drivers who engage in potentially dangerous, in some cases extremely dangerous, behaviors while driving is terrifyingly high, particularly when you remember that every 1 percent of drivers polled represents more than one-and-three-quarters of a million people," said Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll in a statement.
The poll also uncovered some other common distractions U.S. drivers admitted to while driving. Thirty-six percent said they read a map, 10 percent comb their hair, and 7 percent apply makeup on a regular basis.
"While we have some information on how dangerous some of these behaviors are (driving after drinking, talking on cell phones, falling asleep, texting) we can only speculate as to the numbers of accidents and deaths that are caused by the many millions of people who drive while setting their GPS, eating or drinking, surfing the Internet, watching videos, combing their hair, reading or applying makeup," Taylor said.