Missed the edit window: “by feeling for and pressing the next track button.”
Hell no, and it “drives” me crazy when my sister and mother do this. No thanks – I’d rather walk 15 miles by the noise pollution of a freeway than spend 15 minutes in a car with someone distracted and unfocused.
Do like to listen to music, set the cruise control, recline a bit, and stay relaxed, but always alert. That ain’t mean a Cheech and Chong van – just be relaxed, aware, alert, and focused upon one task at a time. To be fair to multitask(ing women)ers, I was a terrible busboy and waiter, but a decent bartender. Not enough brain cells to go around, I guess.
About the only time I multitask that isn’t drinking something is if my cell rings I pick it up into my field of vision to see who is ringing if the traffic is not doing something whacked. Otherwise it goes to voicemail. I have dedicated rings for anybody I may want to actually speak to, and I use an earpiece. I actually use an earpiece all the time, not just in my car, I hate holding phones. I do not eat while I drive, on trips meals are for getting out and moving around so I do not stiffen up.
Never. I would rather be in a car with an attentive driver driving 30 MPH above the limit than someone driving slowly while texting. They are usually able to avoid accidents only because the other driver is paying attention. For example, several times I’ve seen someone talking on a cell phone merge lanes right into another car, but the accident is avoided because the second driver is paying attention and moves over.
Just curious: do you count sleeping as “multi-tasking”? 
That hangs it – I’m going to start carrying my new golf putter around with me, to make sure I get through a crosswalk in one piece.
You all is some crazy! (I eat and drink in the car too – I’m not perfect – but all this cell phone and texting and sleeping bullshit is insane!).
I live up in the Rockies so when I’m driving winding mountain roads or I head back to visit my parents and am driving around LA I consider it driving that requires a bit more technique to do and stay alive. In gneral I refer to it as technical driving as opposed to stop and go or other relativly brainless driving.
I don’t race mainly because it’s not worth the permitting but I have a 2011 Challenger SRT8 and it’s capable of racing and come stock with monitors for lateral as well as acceleration and breaking G forces. It also records a variety of other information including my 0-60 time and 1/8 and 1/4 miles. This weekend I was driving the million dollar highway.
If you count changing CDs and eating hot dogs, then I occasionally multi-task.
Yeah, I’ve heard that too. Do you recall if the studies compared using the cellphone with talking to a passenger in the car?
Nope. I focus on my driving. I load up a playlist in my iPhone before I start so I don’t need to change tunes. I hate even looking for the volume control on my stereo. It’s a nice round knob, but it’s below my eye level so I have to shift my focus downward or feel for it. What happened to putting the radio high up in the dash so you could see it without taking your eyes from the road?
Oops, picked “almost never”, but I really should’ve voted “very rarely”. I put in CDs and change songs on my iPod occasionally, and will sometimes take a quick look at a map when I’m driving. For the most part I like to keep my attention on the road; in fact I turn the radio off whenever I’m driving through cities or congested areas to avoid distraction.
My preferred style of driving is: full attention on the road, modulo a little singing along with whatever’s on the radio/cd player. I’m not even that good at keeping a conversation going with a passenger if I have one.
Parenthood has changed my style somewhat: when the 3 year old in the car seat is demanding attention, I at least have to tell him “one moment, punkin, traffic’s too interesting right now,” or some such, and try to stall him until the next red light when I can actually do something for him. But I’m thinking about him in the meantime (and talking to him, and singing along with him, etc.) so I’m definitely multitasking a bit more often than I used to.
I used to have a driving job, and I was terrible. I just got so bored. I once fitted a stereo in my dash with one hand while driving 300 miles on the freeway with the other. Other times rolled a joint on my leg, wrote poetry, do the crossword, etc. These days I restrict myself to reading the Dope. 
Very rarely. I often have coffee while I drive; and on long trips, I’ll get a couple of CDs ready during a stop so that when I’m underway, I can just eject one and put the next in without fiddling with jewel cases. But that’s about it; when I’m driving, my phone is off.
If you don’t count listening to the radio, then never for sure. I generally don’t even have the radio on unless the kids are listening to their weird music. Driving is too important to allow a distraction.
PS. A radio playing is pretty passive to me, just background. I have seen others pounding a beat on their steering wheels, almost break dancing, and sometimes shouting at it.
“My grandpa the bus driver died peacefully in his sleep - not screaming in terror like his passengers.” 
Not too long ago, my husband and I were crossing the road in a crosswalk, and we had to scatter because a driver was coming straight for us. I see kids walking across the road without paying any attention to the cars all the time - if we had been a couple of those stupid kids, he might have splattered us.
Ah yes, the infamous “driving under the influence of a toddler.”
RevTim, I recall the studies saying that passengers are not as distracting as cellphone conversations because they’re with you and they instinctively react to the same surroundings as the driver, but I’d have to look that up again.
ETA: That was quick - no, passengers are not as distracting. 
What about blind passengers, eh?
I don’t, and it’s because I know people like the OP’s girlfriend are out there somewhere trying to kill people.
What, are they trying to feel your face while you’re driving or something? 
You make an excellent point (and someone else touched on it earlier, too) - my husband and I avoid accidents all the frigging time these days by paying attention when other drivers don’t. It’s turning into a demolition derby out there.
I will change CDs and try and get things for the kids if they drop them and I can reach them. I will also add things to the GPS, but I tend to have those things programed in so I can just push a couple of buttons.
I do not talk, or Og forbid, text while driving.