Poll: 37 percent text while driving

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Most U.S. drivers say they engage in some type of distraction when driving -- 37 percent say they text while driving, a survey indicates.

A Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll of 2,810 U.S adults conducted Nov. 10-14 indicates 86 percent of U.S. adults admitted to eating/drinking while driving, 59 percent talked on a non-hands-free cellphone, 41 percent set or adjusted a GPS device and 44 percent said they felt sleepy while driving and "sometimes even momentarily dozed off."

In addition, U.S. drivers admitted to while driving:

-- 36 percent say they read a map and 10 percent do it often or sometimes.

-- 1-in-10 say they regularly comb or style their hair.

-- 7 percent apply makeup regularly.

-- 9 percent regularly surf the Internet.

-- 7 percent say they watch video on a cellphone or in-board system often or sometimes.

Although large percentages of drivers say distracting behaviors are dangerous, they admit to doing them, the poll said.

"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," Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll, said in a statement.