How To Prevent Getting Cancer From Your Car

Hard to believe, but how you drive can affect incidence of skin cancer.


Summer is upon us, which means more of the country is driving with the window down, elbow resting on the door.

If that sounds like you, consider limiting your open air driving to an open sunroof, and only if you wear a hat. That's because a new study shows a link between driving and the incidence of skin cancer on the left sides of people who drive a lot -- the side exposed to the sun.


Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have found that Americans have a tendency to develop the worst forms of skin cancer – notably melanomas and merkel cell carcinomas – on the left side of their bodies. There is an especially high incidence of cancers discovered on the upper arm, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

This report adds to a growing body of evidence that driving can increase a motorist's exposure to ultra-violet (UV) light, which is linked to skin cancer. In countries like the U.S., where drivers sit on the left side of their car, studies have found more cancers form on the left side. Other research, including a 1986 report from Australia, found that in countries where the steering wheel is situated on the other side of the vehicle, there are more cancers and pre-cancerous growths on the right side of a driver.



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