There's been a lot of talk lately about the dangers of talking on the phone while driving, as well as texting while driving. But don't forget about the perils of tacos and tomato soup as big hazards behind the wheel!
Those are two of the top enemies on Insurance.com's Top Ten Foods To Avoid While Driving List (released last week) and while the subject is definitely serious, I can't help but giggle at this list of items to keep out of your mouth, hands and lap while you're on the road.
It includes such very specific, very non-road-trip-friendly items as: chili dogs, hot soup, ribs and wings, fried chicken, soda, and a few other, culinary culprits.
I especially love the careful explanations of why each item made the list. They cite particularly bad categories of foods as ones that are these three things: hot, greasy, or gooey.
For instance, the fried chicken is a bad choice because it can result in greasy hands and make your steering wheel a mess. Ribs and wings are no-nos because, much like fried chicken, they are greasy can lead to the temptation to lick fingers, taking hands off the wheel. Chili dogs are messy and the resultant dripping can be distracting. Tacos can come apart and be a big mess. Even those seemingly open-road-ready, soup-on-the-go containers are suspect because the contents can be surprisingly hot, and lead you to burn your mouth.
And lest you think it's okay to scarf a sugary jelly doughnut between stop lights, don't head to Dunkin' Donuts just yet. The makers of this list deem sweet treats of that sort a hazard, too—the filling can spurt out and distract you.
While obviously the ideal is to not eat or drink anything while driving (or fiddle with the radio or do anything else besides concentrate on driving, frankly!), there are times when you may break that rule, yes? Do you rely on drinks with straws so you aren't messing with lids and caps? What's your favorite, seemingly safer snack for behind the wheel?
I don’t think eating while driving is any safer that texting or talking. The only thing I’ll do while driving is drink an iced coffee – it keeps me alert during my long drives to work or to when visiting friends across the state. And I can grab it from my cupholder and sip from the straw without ever taking my eyes off the road.
On another note, sometimes I think parents who discipline their kids while driving are even more dangerous than texting teenage driveers!
The article was funny. I used to eat behind the wheel, mainly in the morning, it would be a bagel with cream cheese. I can’t recall it making a terrible mess. Now that I am a mom though I am hyper-nervous when I drive, but only when my daughter is in the car. So no more eating and driving for me, besides my toddler would freak if she saw me eat something and not offer her some! Trying to feed a toddler while driving has a high probability of ending up in an accident.