27 Percent of Teens Confess to Changing Clothes While Driving

Gone are the days where people just were worried about their kids' texting one another while driving. Teenagers today are doing things much worse.

Twenty seven percent of teenagers have admitted to being guilty of changing clothes while driving.

According to a new study published in the Journal of Transportation and Safety, teens have resorted to doing a number of disturbing things while behind the wheel. This includes changing clothes, putting on shoes and contact lenses, wearing makeup and even working on assignments.

The researchers interviewed more than 1000 drivers between the ages of 14 and 18 in places like Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The researchers were surprised at the level of multitasking the teens were resorting to while being unaware of the imminent dangers involved.

Assistant professor of Oregon University and lead author of the study, David Hurwit said, "We were pretty surprised at the changing clothes bit." He goes on to add, "Teens are busy, I guess."

Hurwit also said, "This is a dramatic increase in risk, with inexperienced drivers who are least able to handle it,"

"The absolute worst is texting on a cell phone, which is a whole group of distractions. With texting, you're doing something besides driving, thinking about something besides driving, and looking at the wrong thing."

The researchers however noted that the habit of texting is gradually declining. Forty per cent of the participants admitted to texting, which was down 3 percent from previous findings.

The researchers then conducted workshops with teenagers to show how difficult it is to handle two tasks at once. This included writing numbers on the board with a chalk piece while talking on the phone even as there was no driving involved. By the end, majority of the teenagers understood how easy it was to get distracted while driving a vehicle.

Hurwit concludes, "Automobile manufacturers have made cars significantly safer, but in the interests of passenger comfort they also continue to add more pleasant distractions within the vehicle, More experienced drivers learn how to control these distractions, but we're finding the most problems with the very young driver, within six months of getting a license."