One hand or two while driving?

We have always felt that drinking coffee, eating, or even smoking while driving are arguably as bad as using a mobile phone, writes Brian Byrne. Now there's research that seems to agree with us.

Carried out by the University of Leeds for the esure car insurance company, scientists found that sipping a drink worsened reaction times by more than a fifth than when both hands were on the wheel.

Using a driving simulator, the researchers found that almost the same percentage tended to veer out of lane while drinking a beverage.

In a survey carried out by the insurance company, nearly one in ten respondents said they had had an accident or a near miss while fiddling with the radio controls.

The insurance company compiled the results in a report 'Two Hands are Better than One'.