Over a million British motorists think about sex rather than the road ahead and millions more who don’t indulge in intimate thoughts are worrying about work or thinking about their families, a survey said on Thursday.
Research from car insurer More Than found one in five drivers admit to concentrating behind the wheel less than 75 percent of the time, with 1.2 million thinking mostly about sex.
And sex wasn’t the only non-traffic thoughts motorists have. For 3.2 million drivers work was the main focus and for 2 million more it was family issues that dominated.
The study also revealed drivers’ pet hates.
Topping the list were tailgaters (28 percent), lane hoggers (20 percent) and drivers who cut in (11 percent).
Other road users who drove too fast and those who drove too slowly were also rated on 11 percent.
Here in the States, I think we could add a significant percentage who don’t think about a damned thing!
More than 20 years ago I saw a study that indicated that the best long-haul truck drivers had below-average IQs. The theory proposed was that they were less distracted – driving demanded more of their available brain power.
#1, probably for employees, yes.
ALL the truck drivers I know are professionals, running a small incorporation. Most have 100k$+ mortgages on their powertrains.
I sincerely doubt the below average person can pull off have their own INC or be successfully self-employed.
However, most people in school that are C or B average, are often more intelligent, but rebel against the “system”.
These people truly shine when they are their own boss.
The truck driver people I know are such people.
You might not need to be smart to drive in a straight line but there is more to being a truck driver now days that just steering a truck. You have to do a lot of paper work and if you get any of it wrong it can result in a fine. A good truck driver now days probably has an above average IQ.
On the other hand, an engineer I know at CalTrans (the Calif. transportation dept.) says the truck drivers he deals with are like refrigerators. When they shut the door, the light goes out.
all the truck drivers i know are very intelligent.
they just like to drive.
>># 1 More than 20 years ago I saw a study that indicated that the best long-haul truck drivers had below-average IQs.
I took industrial psychology in college and my prof said the same thing about Greyhound bus drivers. It was an issue of focusing on a task. But I seriously doubt thinking about sex has much to do with IQ.
As for the sex issue: speaking for myself, my mind doesn’t just wander to sex as I drive.
However, while driving in a city, I’m often distracted by a sexy or pretty woman. I know it’s not safe but there is no way to stop it… at least for a fraction of a second. I’m not a lusty, leering kind of guy but I assume some primal part of my brain is always looking for pretty women and that lobe gets priority, even for just a moment.
I’ve never had a wreck because of it but it could happen.
I’m not sure why people think concentration is a good thing. When we concentrate we tend to focus in a linear fashion. We scan from one area to the next for danger and often miss something that comes from an unexpected direction. When the part of the mind that handles tasks is freed from the part of the mind that “thinks”, there is often much greater overall awareness. I’m probably an amateur in such matters but I ride a motorcycle over 100 miles a day in commute traffic and I drive much better when I’m lost in thought – unless the task at hand requires concentration – such as driving the white line.
PS. Being lost in thought is *not* the same as concentrating on a phone conversation, a conversation with a passenger, eating or even listening to the radio.
Well we know Eideard thinking about sex allot.
Isn’t it normal to think about sex? why the taboo’s, why the silly studies on whos think about sex? I think that people that talk on cell phones while driving are a much bigger risk.