The 10 most dangerous foods you shouldn't eat while driving
by Lauren Fix, The Car Coach®
Your Life! Automotive Editor
Have you ever stopped to get a cup of coffee or eat while on the go? Most of us have, we do it everyday in our busy lives. This could be more dangerous than you think.
Eating while you drive is one of the most distracting things you can do. Although NHTSA doesn't track specific information on food-related distraction, it does track general distractions in cars were considered the cause in 25 percent of police-reported motor vehicle crashes. According to NHTSA, "distraction was most likely to be involved in rear-end collisions in which the lead vehicle was stopped and in single-vehicle crashes." What makes distraction such a problem is the mixture of the distraction, such as eating, and the unexpected occurrence of events on the road, such as a sharp curve or a driver stopped ahead of you.
Researchers found most drivers had problems in the morning on the way to work, when spills were likely to spoil their clothes. That made drivers more anxious to clean up spills while still trying to drive, and didn't necessarily make them more likely to pull off the road to deal with the mess because they were in a rush. Spills and drips are a big distraction while eating especially if it could leave a stain you will have to deal with all day at work or school.
There are many offenders that are dangerous, but these top items have a tendency to spill and most of us have experienced them personally. Coffee is at the top because of its tendency to spill. Even in cups with travel lids, somehow the liquid finds its way out of the opening or vent holes each time you hit a bump. Sometimes it's more than the spill or the stain on your clothes, the high temperature of most coffees can cause serious burns and distract drivers who are trying to drive while in pain.
The top 10 most dangerous foods to eat while in a car are:
1. Coffee - It always finds a way out of the cup.
2. Hot soup - Many people drink it like coffee and run the same risks. Even with the new cups on the go.
3. Tacos - these folded delicious foods can disassemble easily without much help, leaving your car or you looking like a salad bar.
4. Chili - The potential for drips and slops down the front of clothing is significant.
5. Hamburgers - the grease from burgers, the ketchup, mustard or worse the tomatoes ends ups on your lap, hands, clothes, and the steering wheel.
6. Barbecued food - barbecued foods are as bad as hamburgers. The sauce may be great, but if you have to lick your fingers, the sauce will end up on whatever you touch.
7. Fried chicken - Another food that leaves you with greasy hands, which means constantly wiping them on something. It also makes the steering wheel greasy.
8. Jelly or cream-filled donuts - Has anyone eaten a jelly donut without some of the center oozing out? Jelly can be difficult to remove from material or your clothes.
9. Soft drinks - spills are common but carbonated drinks can fizz as you're drinking if you make sudden movements, and most of us remember cola fizz in the nose from childhood.
10. Chocolate - Like greasy foods, chocolate coats your fingers as it melts against the warmth of your hands, and leaves its mark anywhere you touch. Trying to clean it off the steering wheel can likely cause you to swerve.
Insurance companies don't track specific information on eating and driving, because it's too difficult to break it down. The difficulty in pinning down the exact cause of accidents lies in separating distractions such as cell phone use, talking to passengers, reading the newspaper, and eating, all of which drivers engage in while also trying to operate a two-ton piece of machinery.
If you drive a vehicle with a stick shift while eating can double the potential for an accident, since one hand is holding food and the other hand is shifting. That leaves no hands for steering, that may seem obvious but I see it everyday. Even more dangerous is using a cell phone, eating, and driving. When the phone rings, the driving distraction increases significantly and, in a rush to answer, drivers forget they're driving.How widespread is this food problem? According to a survey conducted by the Response Insurance Agency in 2000, eating while driving ranks as the No. 2 driving distraction. Fifty-seven percent of drivers surveyed say they eat and drive. The No. 1 distraction noted by 62 percent of surveyed drivers is tuning the radio, and No. 3, noted by 56 percent of drivers, is turning around to talk with passengers.
Interestingly, only 29 percent of drivers surveyed listed talking on a cell phone as a distracting activity in which they engage.
More than 70 percent of drivers say they eat while driving, up from 58 percent in 1995. Eighty-three percent say they drink coffee, juice, or soda while driving and a few even say they'd love a microwave in their car.
The most important thing you can do is limiting your distractions. You can always clean up your car or buy new clothes. A car accident will cost more in time, money and frustration.
