Is Driving With a Cold as Dangerous as Driving While Drunk?

It may seem hard to believe, but driving around with a bad cold is as dangerous as driving after drinking four double whiskeys. At least that's according to British researchers that attached black boxes to cars and found that drivers with heavy colds were much more dangerous–including slower braking times and erratic cornering.

Although you might assume that the dangerous driving was attributable to cold medications, that's actually not the case. Instead, the poor driving was due to the poor sleep associated with having a cold. If you consider the statistics on colds that occur each year, that means more than 600,000 car accidents are caused by colds in the U.S. alone.

So if you have a cold does that mean you shouldn't drive? The researchers do suggest that keeping the car in the garage or getting a ride to work, if you must go while sick, is better. They also say that sick drivers should do everything to keep themselves attentive while driving.