Have you ever been behind the wheel but were so hungry that you decided to eat while driving? Of course you have! We’ve all been there. Nevertheless, eating while driving can be risky and dangerous. However, there are ways to make it safer. Let’s talk about some tips you can use to make eating while driving safer.
Tip On Eating While Driving
Tip #1: Keep Your Eyes On The Road At All Times.
You must never deter your eyes from the road, especially when you’re reaching for food. It’s better to make a few attempts to pick up your food rather than glancing at it for a few seconds. The same goes for anything in your car. Keep trying to reach for your belongings without looking away from the road.
Tip #2: Avoid Hand-Held Food.
It can be challenging to eat hand-held food safely because one or both of your hands will be off the wheel. Although many people do drive with one hand, you need both during an emergency. It’s much harder to avoid accidents with only one hand on the wheel. Therefore, if you’re eating food that requires one or both of your hands, avoid eating until you get home. This leads us to the next tip.
Tip #3: Go For Smaller And Bite-Sized Food
You can eat smaller and bite-sized food much safer than hand-held food, for example, chips. You’ll never pick up a chip and then need to put it down. You can eat it in one bite, making it a much safer option compared to hand-held food like pizza.
Tip #4: Be Fully Aware Of What You’re Eating
Even if you choose to ignore other tips, you must be fully aware of what you’re eating for medical purposes. If you have allergies, whether it be mild or severe, you must never risk getting an allergic reaction while driving– for obvious reasons. Those with severe allergies need to make sure that nobody in the car eats anything that can cause an allergic reaction for the driver.
Tip #5: No Messy Food
You need to take extreme caution when it comes to messy food. If anything spills on or near you while you’re eating, it can pose as a big distraction. Your first reaction during a spill will be to look at it, which steers your attention away from the road. This can be extremely dangerous, even if it’s just for a couple of seconds–anything can happen! Avoid eating messy food behind the wheel altogether.
Now, if you’re eating simple food like chips, a spill isn’t hazardous. If you know you dropped one, clean it up after you’ve parked. You can also apply adhesive floor mats to the carpets of your vehicle to protect against spills. MBR Marketing offers industry-leading adhesive floor mats that you’ll want to check out at https://mbrmarketing.com/adhesive-plastic-floor-mats.
Tip #6: Chew Thoroughly
If you decide to eat while driving, make sure you chew your food much more thoroughly than usual. Take at least ten extra bites than you normally would to ensure you don’t choke on anything. For extra safety, don’t eat food that requires a lot of chewing. When you eat chewy food, you sometimes think you chewed enough to swallow, although you really didn’t. Leave the chewy food for later!
Tip #7: No Difficult Food
Did you pick up food with bones, seeds, or other hazardous pieces in your food? If so, wait until you get home before eating. You cannot risk choking or getting hurt while driving. It’s a hazard that you should avoid altogether. The alternative is getting someone else in the car to remove the hazardous pieces for you. Make sure you tell that person to double-check that it’s completely safe for you to eat.
Tip #8: Go For Sealed Drinks
Whenever possible, always go for sealed drinks while driving, and have them secured in tight cup holders. You should never drink something behind the wheel that can easily spill or leak, for example, from a silo cup. A silo cup can spill even if you didn’t reach to drink it. Driving isn’t always smooth. There are unavoidable bumps that can cause your drink to shake and potentially spill. Also, making smooth turns isn’t always easy. A slightly rough turn on the road can easily cause an unsealed drink to spill.
Tip #9: Wait For The Red Light
Even though you should never text at a red light, as it’s against the law, many people still choose to do so. The reason being is that it’s safer compared to when you’re driving. This is also true when it comes to eating while driving. If you choose to ignore every tip we’ve discussed, you should at least wait for the red light to eat. That way, if anything were to happen, you’ll have more time to deal with it. You can also put your car in park mode.
Tip #10: Consider Pulling Over
If you just recently picked up food, don’t you want to enjoy it? The best way to enjoy your food is to sit somewhere nice and comfortable and eat slowly–without potential hazards. Let’s assume you’re far away from home and you’re hungry. What harm is there pulling over at some random street or convenience store to take some time to eat? You’ll get to enjoy the food much more than when you’re behind the wheel.
As an alternative, you can get somebody else in the car to drive for you. This way, you can sit comfortably and safely in the passenger or back seat to eat. Just make sure you don’t distract the nice driver who’s now driving for you. As a courtesy, consider feeding them a safe bite of your food.
Although there’s no way to make eating while driving completely safe, you can use the tips we provided to do it safer. Your health and well-being must always come first, even if you’re starving. Eat as responsible as you can and drive with maximum caution!