Why You Should Not Eat While Driving

There is a lot of information regarding how risky it is to drive while using a cellphone, but the risks of eating while driving are under-reported. However, eating behind the wheel is a significant cause of distracted driving that can lead to road collisions.

Continue reading to find out more about the dangers of eating while driving.

Statistics Of Eating And Driving

A recent poll stated that 56.7% of Americans admit to drinking and eating while driving. Most Americans have a fast-paced lifestyle. Eating while driving is normal since every coffee shop and fast food restaurant has a drive-thru. However, as it is dangerous to text and drive, so is eating while driving.

In addition, a 2014 Lytx research stated that drivers who eat or drink while on the go are 3.6 times more likely to have a car accident than observant drivers who don’t. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, eating or drinking from an open container while driving raises the chance of car accidents or near-collisions by around 39%.

These statistics are disturbing, but they highlight the critical need to stop distracted drivers who eat while driving.

Reasons Why You Should Avoid Eating While Driving

Most people carry their breakfast with them in the car. They believe that eating snack foods while they control the wheel would not hurt. In the end, they multi-task, which leads to a major distraction. Why is eating while driving dangerous?

1. Eating Requires Both Hands

Visual distractions and manual distractions are the worst types that impair drivers’ ability. Eating while driving will almost always demand you take your hands off the steering wheel‌. Not only that, it diverts your eyes off the road. Fast food items come in grocery bags ‌you need to open.

Plus, there are wraps ‌you have to remove and sauce packets to rip. Thus, eating while driving forces drivers to use their knees instead of their hands.

2. Eating Leaves You With Clutter

Each time you use the drive-thru for a fast meal, you’re left with paper bags full of garbage, an emptied cup, and a stack of filthy wipes. This mess is simple to chuck onto the floorboard. And it will cause a hazardous, crowded driving environment.

Treating your vehicle as a temporary dining room is just a bad idea. You’ll have to juggle cans, plates, and bottles, leaving your seat cluttered. Also, they’ll cause cognitive distractions, which will take your mind and focus off the road. Drivers are more likely to be in car accidents if they eat while driving.

3. Drinking While Driving Is Also Risky

Drinking water while driving is just as dangerous as driving under alcohol. The reason is that, whatever you drink from, be it a cup or bottle, might block your eyesight when you bring them to your lips for a gulp. Also, straws you need to unwrap straws and place them into lids. And this will require you to take your hands and eyes from the road for a few seconds.

Popular 20 oz sodas have stiff caps, which you may experience difficulty removing. They take on a life of their own, flying in the car and beneath the seat, never to be found.

4. Having People Eat In Your Vehicle Is Distracting

When you have friends chowing fried chicken in your car, you might easily forget the important task. The scents of the food and the sound of passengers eating as you try to focus on driving, not to mention offers of fries and "bites," might cause an enormous distraction. Then, you’ll feel enticed to look at them and take your eyes off the road.

Most Dangerous Foods To Avoid Eating While Driving

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, eating dangerous foods behind the wheel can increase the risk of collision. Below are major foods to avoid eating behind the wheel:

1. Coffee

Drinking coffee behind the wheel is one of the leading causes of distracted driving. A coffee cup has tightly fastened lids. So, if the top accidentally pops off while driving, you risk spilling hot coffee on hand or other passengers. This may cause you to take your hands off the steering wheel while you swerve dangerously on the road.

2. Hot Soup

Eating behind the wheel is quite dangerous. In fact, the dangers involved with eating hot soup while driving are the same as those involved with sipping hot coffee. It’s easy to spill, a pain to clean up, and more dangerous if you spill it on yourself and other passengers. However, it depends on how hot it is.

3. Chili Dogs

A chili dog could be the best thing to eat while driving to quench your hunger pangs. However, holding hot chili with your hands can hurt, and when it drops on your clothes, it makes you prone to distracted driving. Thus, it may lead to a car accident.

4. Chocolate

After eating chocolate, your palms become filled with the sticky item. Then, you may leave unattractive chocolate fingerprints on everything you touch, including the driver’s seat, the steering wheel, your cloth, etc. Of course, cleaning the stains will be your next reaction, which needs a lot of attention!

The primary reason chocolate made the list of the dangerous foods to ignore while driving is because it is a big mess. It is not something spillable or hot and doesn’t matter if you drop your candy bar. However, the distraction may become dangerous if you eat chocolate on the way to your business meeting and it goes all over your hands and fingers, or worse still, your wonderful bright shirt.

5. Hamburgers

A hamburger may be slippery and difficult to hold on a road trip. Pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and bacon are just a few of the many components of burgers that might fall out of the bun and cause a mess in your moving car. A hamburger that escapes your grip while driving may cause you to lose focus and lead to a car accident. Furthermore, nobody likes ketchup on their trousers.

6. Soft Drinks

How could a basic soft drink make the list? Of course! Spilling a beverage, having a can or container fall out of the cup holder, and even taking a sip causes distracted driving. What’s more? Looking through your car’s floorboard for that water bottle that keeps sliding around causes cognitive distraction. And this diverts your attention from the road.

Now, think about this, why is texting and driving harmful? This is because you must avert your gaze from the road, even if only for a ‌moment. So, what do you suppose occurs if you finish a bottle of Pepsi behind the wheel or when Coke spills on your lap? Possibly distracted driving?

7. Jelly And Cream Filled Or Powdered Donuts

So you stop by a fast food to grab your yummy jelly donut and coffee. When you bite through it, jelly leaks out the end and smears itself all over your stylish jeans. A vast driver distraction, you got it! Honestly, anything that may cause a mess in the car is risky.

Your car is not secure from threatening donuts, as wide varieties are skilled at creating a chaotic scenario.

8. Fried Chicken

Tasty fried chicken is best relished at home. A driver eating fried chicken must wash the oil off his hands often. Have you ever got grease on an armrest or a wheel? Once it has been there for a long, it is difficult to remove!

To make matters worse, fried chicken is messy. The "messy food scenario" we discussed in doughnuts also holds true here. Hence, eat your fried chicken in a parking lot or convenience store.

9. Barbecued Food

Who doesn’t enjoy barbecue sauce? However, keep in mind that anything that spills will do so when you are driving. And eating barbeque and smearing its sauce all over your clothes and a leather vehicle seat will cause distracted driving.

10. Tacos

You can have tacos stuffed with tasty toppings, including steak, lettuce, and cheese. Meanwhile, there will undoubtedly be irregular car movements when you hit that pothole, and a driver eating it might have an accident. The reason is that the toppings may flow out, causing you a distraction.

How To Avoid Eating While Driving

For the various reasons stated in this article, eating while driving is a bad idea. Sadly, we often cannot determine when we will feel hungry. Therefore, what can you do to lessen the chance that hunger may affect your driving? Here are some ‌recommendations:

1. Eat Healthy Before Hitting The Road

Before going to work, school, or shopping, wake up earlier to eat. Eating while driving could save time when you’re in a rush, but it’s not fun. Eating before hitting the road will be far more fun and stress-free. You don’t need to wait until you feel hunger pangs before you eat.

Choose some nutritious food when you have the time to sit down for a meal. If you want to take a lengthy drive, doing it is very crucial. Even if eating nothing is preferable, some foods will give you more energy than others. Thus, make it a habit to consume lean meats, fruits, veggies, and whole grains before a long trip since they will fuel you better.

2. Choose A Different Driver

It’s not always convenient to pause during a long journey to get a long meal and rest. Though, there could be instances when you’re traveling down a road with no rest stations in sight and hunger strikes. In such a case, you can ask another individual to assume the car duties, at least for the moment.

Then you can take advantage of the extra time to eat and relax. Doing so will allow you to refuel without putting yourself or anybody else in the car at risk.

3. Eat In A Car Parking lot

If you pick it up through the drive-thru, take a few minutes to munch your lunch in the restaurant’s parking lot. When you’re done eating, dispose of your leftovers in the dumpsters that most chains have placed next to the parking spaces.

4. Choose Slim Drink Containers

Often, it’s necessary to have a drink with you when driving. Drinking water, juice, or soda is less distracting than eating and drinking while driving. That said, choose a bottle that is thinner and has a lid that can you can open with one hand. The most convenient containers to use while driving is light, compact ones.

Final Thoughts

When opting to chow behind the wheel, especially when eating meals from the above list, drivers should exercise caution. Eating while driving might save time, but the police officer will hold the driver accountable if an accident occurs under these circumstances.

In conclusion, don’t be a distracted driver of any type. Avoid food while operating your car by every means possible.