With the amazing convergence in recent years of technology and transportation, I thought I’d take you on a technological journey of sorts this week by blogging from behind the wheel of an exotic supercar, or perhaps from behind the controls of an advanced fixed-wing jet fighter.

Of course, the idea proved not very popular with my editors when I approached them for the keys to the Audi R8 (isn’t it my turn?).  With something about “the distracted driving epidemic in this country,” it was suggested that I not even consider blogging (or “drogging” as I had planned to call it) while driving.

Instead, my editors quite clearly requested that I learn more about distracted driving and then share it with our loyal readers at the Backseat Driver blog.  Hmph.  “But I’m an excellent driver” is all I could think to say before heading off to see if blogging from the driver’s seat really was such a bad idea.

The first thing I learned as I set out on this journey of enlightenment is that the issue is important enough to have warranted a “Distracted Driving Summit.”  Still, I thought, this stuff doesn’t apply to me; not only am I an excellent driver, but I’ve learned to bang away at the keyboard through all manner of distraction over the years (distracted blogging you might call it).

But being a true professional, I would seek the truth objectively.  And I did.

I learned that even pedestrians are easily distracted by texting.  Of course, I was never advocating blogging while walking, so I had some difficulty relating. But I did learn that states are cracking down on “distracted driving.”  Maine, for example, has made it illegal to drive while distracted. Since I was never planning on “drogging” in the state of Maine, though, it seemed irrelevant.

While continuing to educate myself, I learned that you probably shouldn’t text while driving a bus on a crowded freeway.  Again, though, I had no intention of driving a bus (or, really, even driving on the freeway at all).  I was simply looking to “drog” from an R8.

Despite beginning to lose faith in my editors, I pressed onward.  I read that some guy in Boston will pay me a dollar to hang up my cell phone while behind the wheel.  Again, though, how does this apply to me?

Surely, there had to be something to this, though.  I mean, my editors are pretty smart folks; they must know something that I didn’t.  Or at least that’s what I assumed as I continued to seek the power of truth and knowledge.

Surprisingly, though, I found only more frustration. Nobody’s complaining about blogging and driving in Europe.  And stateside, the U.S. National Safety Council appears to be siding with amateur radio operators so that they can continue to drive distracted.  Nobody can tell me that driving while blogging is any more distracting than driving while gabbing away in a foreign language.   Sheesh.

Clearly, though, conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that driving while text-messaging is undeniably dangerous.  Despite this fact, it appears that many people would continue to text and drive even if laws against it were passed (take the test for evidence).

America’s truckers were there to help me understand the issue more completely.  Despite reports that texting while driving is even more dangerous for truckers, the fine folks that keep this country’s commerce running by logging long miles behind the wheel of dangerous machines plan to keep using their computers while behind the wheel. While no specific mention is made of blogging, necessarily, I found this very promising.

Not wanting to “cherry pick” my evidence, though, I decided to take a distracted driving test (hat tip – Media & You).  If you’re wondering about the results, I bombed it but I contend that the cute little web app is far more difficult and dangerous than “drogging” would be.

Just when I thought that I’d never find relevant information with which to make my case, I discovered that there are others out there like me.  Yes, indeed, people are “Tweeting” while driving and, apparently, some people view it as quite dangerous.  The important thing to remember, though, is that I was never proposing that I “micro-blog” while driving; blogging and “micro-blogging” are clearly two very different animals.

Unable to find any definitive, scientific information that blogging and driving is a dangerous combination, I was intent upon returning to my editors with my findings, hoping to convince them that this was a (safe) cause worth pursuing.  Unfortunately, as I wrapped up my scientific research, I stumbled upon a bit of information that was very discouraging.

Reports have surfaced that men with ring fingers longer than their index fingers are predisposed to dangerous driving.  That’s all I needed to read.  I measured my finger ratio and have determined that I shouldn’t be driving a car at all.

I’ve officially given up the dream of “drogging” and, in fact, am considering a career change.  There’s really very little use for an automotive journalist with “the long ring finger.”  What a disappointment!