How does one practice mindfulness/concentration while driving, safely?

I've got an idea that a good, simple practice would be to stay quietly mindful of the sensations of driving, only permitting verbal thoughts to progress if important to driving or the meditation -- i.e. not permitting monkey-mind thoughts to proliferate and distract the mind from the task at hand. This practice seems similar to what many meditation teachers recommend doing in all daily activities, but I've never heard anything specific about driving.

Is that an effective approach? Is it safe to do while driving in dangerous situations? I'm especially interested in hearing from people who actually do something useful with their mind, on purpose, while driving. Speculation is nice, but I'm already quite capable of speculating.

A few years ago I had a schedule that involved driving 30-40 miles most days of the week. I was also at that time meditating fairly intensively. I never did a practice specifically while driving, because I think driving should take your full attention (not "how do my fingers feel on the wheel" but "there's a stop sign/pedestrian/someone running a red light"!) That said, it was somewhat common, moreso over time, for my practice to impact my driving in terms of allowing me to be fully engaged and utterly focused on driving and the road conditions, rather than driving while spending 80% of my brain power daydreaming, worrying about upcoming events, fretting over past events, replaying arguments in my head and so on. So I'd not recommend deliberately doing a practice while driving, but one of the eventual fruits of practice may well be a clearer and more present attention to what is going on on the road, making one a better driver. ;)

That said, driving is not a bad time to listen to audiobooks or podcasts about dharma stuff.

It's a great time to note out loud! Nobody can hear you so you can really get into it. I've got a lot of benefit out of this practice time. A 30 minute daily commute means 5 hours more of practice time a week. It works best on the highway though, when there isn't too many things to watch out for

I've been doing a little light tummo while driving, though I suppose it's not for everyone.

Every time I drive I do awareness of the whole visual field simultaneously, it's a really good practice for driving and walking because you usually become more coordinated and effective but also supremely relaxed and alert.

+1..this has been my experience...a direct panaromic look at the current visual field makes me alert and relaxed and most
important - less prone to accidents

This is what I do.

Thanks everybody for these suggestions. I'm a bit worried about noting because it causes me to view all sensations as equally important, yet in driving the reality is that the car ahead of me is more important than the seat under my butt.

The panoramic visual awareness is already one of my favorite walking meditations, so it may work pretty well for driving too. I'll give that one a try.

....First...close your eyes..and breath deeply...NO WAIT, that's for sitting. :-)

You said it already Boss.
See - Everything without labeling as it swims by, focusing only on the dangerous parts of drivingas the requirement arises.
Hear - Without "listening" the air going by, the tire noise, the wipers swishing, all without categorizing.
Feel - the touch and coolness of the steering wheel where its nubbed or polished from use, your soles, your seat.
Smell - Your Starbucks double macchiato with caramel - without labeling it or feeling the need to chug it before you arrive.

Good luck with that last one, I think that's arahatship right there.

Haha, I like it! Funny and pragmatic.

No way! Flat white from Costa... ;0)

Also anapanasati works.