Don’t try to pretend that you’ve never eaten while driving before. I understand; you’re hungry so you grab some delicious fast food somewhere, and because you’re just so hungry and can’t wait until you get home, you immediately pull out those fries and start munching away.
You probably think that there’s no problem eating behind the wheel. It’s not illegal and it’s certainly one of the most common things drivers do, with 70% of people having admitted to eating while driving. Yet you might not have any idea what kind of danger you’re putting yourself and others in when you take a bite of a burger behind the wheel.
Eating while driving presents a big risk for drivers. Studies have shown that eating behind the wheel significantly increases your risk of being involved in a car accident. Although it doesn’t increase your risk quite as much as texting, a comprehensive study of the effects of eating while driving showed that eating behind the wheel impaired drivers almost as severely as texting while driving does.
It’s because, like texting, eating while driving distracts your attention from the road, and even a few seconds being distracted from what’s going on can have a huge impact behind the wheel.
In 80% of crashes, the driver looked away from the road three seconds before the accident, and eating while driving seriously reduces your ability to react to dangers on the road. That’s why there’s been a recent push to criminalize eating while driving in certain states or punish those caught eating under distracted driving laws.
So next time you stop to get some food on your way home, resist that urge to munch on the drive back to your house. Who knows, it might save your life.