What's really interesting, though, is that the study didn't involve humans — it involved mice. Yes, it is true. Spending too much time inside a car on crowded freeways causes brain damage in mice.
At first I couldn't understand how they could teach mice to drive — pedal extensions maybe, but then, I am not an engineer. Todd E. Morgan, one of the researchers in the study, explained it all.
Morgan told KNBC News that he and his colleagues duplicated the environment inside a car on a crowded freeway exactly — what we would call "trying to get to Angel Stadium on the 55 at 6 p.m." — in their lab, with just the right blend of exhaust-filled air.
They then exposed the little mouse drivers to it over a period of weeks. The results? Compelling evidence that too much time on the freeway can cause not only brain damage, but heart problems, memory loss and … I don't remember the last one.
Wait, I remember — lung problems. Can you apply the data from mouse drivers to human-type drivers?
"We can only definitively say what happens to mice," Morgan told KNBC News. "However, there is suggestive evidence that similar effects may be happening in humans."
Suggestive or not, doc, the evidence is good enough for me.
For one thing, I can personally attest to the memory loss part and I'm thrilled that at least I now know what's causing it — clearly, too much time on the freeways. I spend a good deal of my day (and night) racing from one meeting or event to the next, invariably late for my next deal.
Does this ever happen to you? Please tell me it does.
You tell everyone, "Sorry, I gotta run," race to your car, charge up the on-ramp, do a fist pump because the meter isn't on, carefully merge into traffic, with only one problem — you can't remember where you're going.