We Do Hope You'll Read This Article, But Not While You're Driving A Car

This should allay fears that Americans are a post-literate people: In a survey fielded by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for an organization called Drive for Life, 17 percent of drivers said they sometimes read while driving. This may help explain why 30 percent of drivers have been in a collision within the past five years. The poll found 54 percent of drivers saying that driving is more unsafe than it was five years ago, vs. just half as many saying it's safer. People also think it's less pleasant out on the road: 28 percent said driving is "much more aggravating" than it was two years ago, with another 21 percent saying it's "somewhat more aggravating." A mere 8 percent said it's "less aggravating." When people were asked to single out the factor that bothers them most, "other drivers' behavior" got twice as many votes (61 percent) as "traffic delays" (16 percent) and "road conditions" (14 percent) combined. As Sartre used to say while stuck in traffic, hell is other drivers. Who's the worst menace on the road? Equal numbers of respondents pointed to "distracted drivers" and "aggressive drivers" (37 percent each), with "teen drivers" (14 percent) and "senior citizen drivers" (11 percent) splitting the rest of the tally.As you might guess, the behavior that most irks motorists when they see other drivers doing it is "driving while talking on a cell phone" (cited by 31 percent). Even such annoyances as tailgating (22 percent), failing to use turn signals (15 percent) and frequent lane changes (10 percent) evoked less ire. And yet, when quizzed about their own sins, 43 percent of those polled said they've driven while talking on a cell phone. That's fewer than confessed to speeding (68 percent) or eating while driving (52 percent). But it exceeded the number who said they've driven while drowsy (33 percent), driven aggressively (16 percent) or indulged in a "romantic moment" while behind the wheel (10 percent). Given all these lapses, Drive for Life says it's ironic that "safety" is the feature people feel is most important in a vehicle (cited by 40 percent), topping "economical/fuel efficient" (31 percent), "seating and cargo space" (13 percent), "speed/ high performance" (8 percent), "appearance" (6 percent) and "upgraded technology features" (1 percent). But it makes perfect sense: Drivers have in effect given up personal responsibility for safety and outsourced it to their cars. Just think of all the people you see yammering on their cell phones as they speed along in their tank-like SUVs. The whole point of owning a safe vehicle, it seems, is that you can drive recklessly and still live to tell a pollster about it.

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We Do Hope You'll Read This Article, But Not While You're Driving A Car

Mark Dolliver

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