I hate driving. I hate the traffic, the confusing design of highways in my city and the long periods of claustrophobic sitting with nothing to do but listen to the radio. To top if off, I am a nervous, slow driver, fearful of other cars and distracted drivers. （Yes, I'm the one you've probably honked at, annoyed.）

    But I live in a sprawling Southwestern city with limited public transportation and intense heat that makes long-distance walking or biking tough for much of the year. So driving, alas, is a fact of life for me.

    My fears, though, have only been further confirmed by a harrowing series in the New York Times called 'Driven to Distraction' about the dangers of using cellphones and of texting while driving. One article cited a new study, by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which found that when truck drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.

    Another article cited research that drivers using phones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers─and that driving while talking on a cell is akin to being legally drunk. Hands-free devices, meanwhile, don't eliminate these risks, according to studies. In fact, they may worsen them by giving drivers a false sense of security.

    Because I'm such a wimpy driver, I try not to talk or answer my phone on the road unless it's urgent or traffic is at a standstill. But for many Jugglers, especially those with long commutes and important business to take care of, talking or texting while driving is common, and perhaps necessary. I am amazed by how many interviews I've conducted for articles with subjects talking to me while driving; I can sometimes hear the sound of horns and the hushed strains of NPR in the background.

    Readers, do you regularly drive and talk on a cell or text? Given the risks of doing so, have you tried to reduce usage while driving? And more generally, how much is driving a part of your juggle and how do you feel about it?

    我討厭開車。我討厭堵車、討厭我所在的城市公路那種令人一頭霧水的設(shè)計(jì)，還有長(zhǎng)時(shí)間一個(gè)人坐在車?yán)锸裁匆哺刹怀芍荒苈犑找魴C(jī)的慘狀。最重要的是，我開車時(shí)十分緊張，車速很慢，害怕其他的車以及那些不專心的司機(jī)。（沒錯(cuò)，我就是那種你可能會(huì)惱火地對(duì)之狂按喇叭的人。）

    但我所居住的城市位于美國(guó)西南部、占地十分廣闊，這里的公共交通不甚發(fā)達(dá)，氣候又極其炎熱，遠(yuǎn)距離步行或騎自行車在一年中的大部分時(shí)間里都會(huì)讓人受不了。因此，唉，開車成了我生活的一部分。

    《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》（New York Times）刊登了一個(gè)悲慘的系列報(bào)導(dǎo)，名為"開車怎能不分心",內(nèi)容是關(guān)于開車時(shí)打手機(jī)或發(fā)短信的危險(xiǎn)。這個(gè)報(bào)導(dǎo)進(jìn)一步強(qiáng)化了我的擔(dān)憂情緒。其中一篇文章援引了弗吉尼亞科技運(yùn)輸學(xué)院（Virginia Tech Transportation Institute）的一項(xiàng)新研究，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，卡車司機(jī)邊發(fā)短信邊開車時(shí)，撞車的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)比不發(fā)短信的司機(jī)高出23倍。

    另一篇文章引述了一項(xiàng)研究，稱開車時(shí)打手機(jī)的司機(jī)撞車的機(jī)構(gòu)是其他司機(jī)的4倍，并聲稱開車時(shí)打電話相當(dāng)于醉酒駕車。與此同時(shí)，研究表明免提設(shè)備并不能消除這些風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。事實(shí)上免提設(shè)備還加劇了風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，因?yàn)樗鼈兘o了司機(jī)一種安全的錯(cuò)覺。

    由于我實(shí)在是個(gè)無能的司機(jī)，我盡量避免開車時(shí)接打電話，除非是緊急情況下，或者堵車堵得動(dòng)不了的時(shí)候。但對(duì)于許多上班族來說，尤其是上下班路途很長(zhǎng)、有重要業(yè)務(wù)需要處理的人，開車時(shí)打電話或發(fā)短信是尋常之事，或許還必須為之。許多次我進(jìn)行采訪時(shí)，采訪對(duì)象都是一邊開車一邊通過電話跟我對(duì)答，對(duì)此我驚駭不已；有時(shí)我還能聽到電話里傳來對(duì)方那邊的喇叭聲和被調(diào)低音量的國(guó)家公共廣播（NPR）播放的音樂聲。

    讀者們，你們經(jīng)常一邊開車一邊打電話或發(fā)短信嗎？考慮到這樣做的危險(xiǎn)，你有沒有試著在開車時(shí)少用手機(jī)？從更普遍的方面來說，開車在你生活中占有多大的比重，你對(duì)此感覺如何？