Originally Posted by
IAHtraveler
I hope it's not a full 5 seconds (unless you're stopped at a light)
. That's a lot of time!! At highway speeds (~70 mph), you've gone 500 ft in 5 seconds. Even at 35 mph, you've gone far enough to do a lot of damage off the shoulder.
Well, the standard figure is that if you sneeze while driving 70mph, you go about 300 feet with your eyes closed.
Which happens to me more often than I'd like. Plus, when I sneeze, I get fairly discombobulated for a few more seconds. So 5 seconds of looking down feels -- to me -- roughly equivalent to a sneeze.
I'm not sure how long it takes me to glance at the map and see that I've missed my exit, but 5 seconds is a rough estimate. It's not the safest thing -- but it's something that I usually feel safe doing in a tight-handling car on an open stretch of freeway (note:
not in heavy traffic and/or twisty roads or narrow lanes!). On the other hand, I'm not advocating the practice (I also climb mountains for entertainment, so I clearly have (a) excessive risk tolerance, and (b) irrational faith in my own abilities)!