09 June 2011
Are you a self-confessed driving snacker? Have you ever dropped toast while driving, then finger-wipe-and-licked the jam from the steering wheel?
Don’t deny it – 42% of motorists regularly eat while driving, with only a third cleaning the interior of their cars once a year. If this is you, bad news – you may as well be licking a public toilet seat.
Research by Queen Mary University in London has found there are 9 times more germs on your steering wheel than on a public toilet seat. While around 80 different bacteria cover every square inch of a typical toilet, a whopping 700 cover ever square inch of your car’s interior!
Lead researcher of the study and director of biomedical science at Queen Mary University, Ron Cutler, has done an ample job in convincing us to leave our lazy cleaning ways in the past:
“While most of the bacteria were unlikely to cause health problems, some cars were found to play host to a number of potentially harmful bacterial species”.
She adds that bacillus cereus (a food-poisoning bacteria found in rice, pasta, potatoes and pies) and arthrobacter (found in soil and on human skin), were the most commonly found in the study.
Another interesting finding shows the dirtiest area in a car is generally the boot, with 1000 bacteria within every one-and-a-half square inches of boot lining.
Makes cleaning your car a whole lot more appealing now, doesn’t it?