Eating While Driving Is Bad, Here’s Why

Seth Smiley here from the Smiley Law Firm, and in today’s edition of the Parents of Teen Drivers Facebook Group, we are discussing a tough subject. “Eating while driving is bad, here’s why.” It’s tough because we are all guilty of it.

Whenever you eat or drink something while you drive, you become distracted. Many of our teenagers love to grab some fast food after practice, and there is a great temptation to eat it while driving, even if it is against teen driving laws.

There are three types of distraction. There is cognitive distraction, which is when your brain is distracted, and you can’t do multiple things, particularly focusing on the road when driving at speed.

There is a visual distraction, where when things get in your way, you can’t see over or through it.

Lastly, you have physical distractions where there are things that take you and your body away from what you should be focusing on.

Whenever you eat and drink behind the wheel, all of these distractions become an issue.

We have discussed teens and their undeveloped brains before, so we need to be sure to put them in the best position to be safe whenever they drive.

The teen driver statistics are bad enough already!

It doesn’t matter if it’s a full Burger King value meal or just a coffee, eating and drinking behind the wheel is a potentially fatal distraction.

We have all heard of the famous story of the woman who badly burned herself with McDonald’s coffee while in a car. It is an example of what can go wrong.

If you have any feedback or funny stories on our topic of “Eating while driving is bad, here’s why…” let us know in the comments.

Thank you.