5 Reasons You Shouldn't Eat While Driving

We've all done it. You’ve got a whole list of errands to tackle during your lunch break, so you hit the drive-through window and scarf a burger down as you drive through town. Or maybe you smacked the snooze button one too many times, so you throw a quick breakfast together and take it with you in the car. It might not seem like that big a deal, but here are five reasons you shouldn’t eat while driving.

You could get a ticket. A man was pulled over and given a ticket for eating a cheeseburger while driving through Atlanta, Georgia. The officer who pulled the man over wrote him a citation for distracted driving. However, the charge was eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence.

You will get mustard on your shirt. Messy eater or no, you will inevitably dirty your clothes. If what you're eating doesn’t have mustard on it, you will get some other type of condiment or crumbs on whatever you’re wearing. Sure eating on the drive to work got you to the meeting on time, but now you have to give a presentation while you're covered in food. 

You will ruin the interior of your vehicle. Maybe you lucked out and that mustard drip missed you entirely. Unfortunately, your seat was there to take the hit. Eating while driving can turn your car's clean interior into a Jackson Pollock counterfeit. 

Science projects underneath the driver's seat. Food can fall under seats and go forgotten or unnoticed. That means when you decide to clean under those seats a year later you will find some strange furry specimens, or maybe a fry that looks disturbingly unchanged after a yearlong sit on the floor of a car.

It's dangerous. There’s a reason that man was pulled over in Atlanta. If you’re eating, there’s no way for you to be completely focused on the road. You’re distracted. You have to take your eyes off the road and your hands off the wheel.

You might save five minutes by eating and driving, but five minutes isn't worth putting yourself in danger. You're better off driving to your destination and eating while you’re safely parked.