Driver on Manhattan Road Reading Book

VIDEO: Driver on Manhattan Road Reading Book: MyFoxNY.com

A motorist who texts or talks on cell phone while driving is bad enough. But imagine if you looked over and saw someone driving - and reading a book.

That is exactly what two friends saw Thursday morning on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive in Manhattan -- and they have video evidence to prove it. They say the driver should be held responsible.

Tania Ramirez and Llajarya Hane ride to work together everyday. They've seen other drivers doing some strange things: texting, eating a bowl of cereal, putting on make-up, picking up stuff from the floor and more.

When they saw a man reading a book while driving his Honda during morning rush hour on the FDR it was a first. Hane, who was in the passenger seat, recorded it on a cell phone.

"You can see his thumbs, you can see him holding the book open," Hane said.

Ramirez couldn't believe how blatant the guy was.

"There's no excuse for reading a book while you're driving," Ramirez said. "he may be very smart, but that was the dumbest thing I've ever scene."

AAA New York spokesman Robert Sinclair said that distracted drivers create as many as 8,000 accidents every day. Studies show that texting while driving makes you 28 times more likely to get into an accident.

And for reading?

"I don't think we've even measured that," Sinclair said. "My dear old grandfather used to say common sense is not common. And this is another example of that fact."

As far as Fox 5 knows, this distracted driver didn't cause any accidents Thursday morning.

Fox 5 has forwarded this video the NYPD, which is reviewing it.

Texting and talking on your cell phone are both against the law in the Tri-state area. Reading a book while driving could fall into the recklessly driving category and would therefore be against the law as well.