Have You Ever Been in an Accident Because You Sneezed?

Sneezing hurts. At least it can when I do it. My whole family gets into really long sneezing fits. Especially at the dinner table.

And that is all very well and good (I guess) if you ARE sitting around the table, but not so much when you're driving down the road and ESPECIALLY when there's no place to pull off because, yes, I've had to do that. I sneeze like a large animal with bad allergies.

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THE UNAVOIDABLE DILEMMA

Since you cannot keep your eyes open when you sneeze, driving becomes problematic when one of those "big events" comes on. It happened the other night and on a stretch of road where I could NOT pull off and chill. And it started me thinking...why couldn't this cause an accident?

SNEEZING STATS

Well, I did some digging and found a study from the United Kingdom showing that 2,500 accidents happen monthly because of sneezing, blowing one's nose, or scrambling around trying to find a tissue.

Okay, you can't help sneezing, I guess--although it ALWAYS feels better to let it fly. But you CAN pull over or just wait to blow your nose or find a Kleenex, can't you?

But the really fascinating statistic from this story is not how long your eyes are closed during the average sneeze--it's two seconds (which feels long)--but it's the distance your car can travel IN those two seconds--155 feet. That's a long distance to not have your eyes open.

SECOND OPINION

But based on some information from Direct Auto, the motorist would have to be driving pretty fast to COVER that distance during a sneeze. Direct Auto indicates that a driver can go 50 feet at 60 mph while their eyes are closed during a sneeze.

Also, like texting and eating, Direct Auto considers sneezing distracted driving.

Again, you CAN hold in a sneeze. You'll still get a blessing later.