Americans do a lot of things besides driving when we’re driving, including a few activities that could be dangerously distracting. Half of us have texted or eaten meals while driving, a quarter of us have engaged in sexual activity while behind the wheel, and a handful of us have even taken our eyes off the road to change a diaper!
But more than anything, we love to go digging for gold.
A recent survey found that approximately two-thirds of Americans have picked their nose while they were operating a vehicle. Online insurance quote provider NetQuote polled 2,089 drivers across the United States, and nearly 66% of respondents admitted to picking while driving (perhaps emboldened by Jerry Seinfeld’s impassioned defense of the anti-social behavior).
In addition to our country’s predilection for picking, the survey reveals plenty of other interesting (and alarming) driving habits, from selfie-snapping to pimple-popping:
In defense of our nation’s motorists, some of these behaviors sound like they weren’t entirely avoidable. For example, the 7.7% of people who have vomited while driving probably wish they had had time to pull over first, but just couldn’t quell the uprising in time.
However, the 19.5% of people who watched video content while driving? Yeah, that probably could have waited. And the 13.5% of people who have consumed alcohol while driving may have a problem…
As for texting while driving, the country is pretty much split down the middle. Among those who do text, though, only 8% do so on a daily basis, which is encouraging. Also, when it comes to texting by type of vehicle, many will be unsurprised to learn that sports car drivers are the most reckless, while minivan owners tend to play it safe:
You can find more graphs and read all of NetQuote’s findings at their website.
Patrick Grieve was born in Southwestern Ohio and has lived there all of his life, with the exception of a few years spent getting a Creative Writing degree in Southeastern Ohio. He loves to take road trips, sometimes to places as distant as Northeastern or even Northwestern Ohio. Patrick also enjoys old movies, shopping at thrift stores, going to ballgames, writing about those things, and watching Law & Order reruns. He just watches the original series, though, none of the spin-offs. And also only the ones they made before Jerry Orbach died. Season five was really the peak, in his opinion. See more articles by Patrick.