Hungry? Driving? Think twice!

Can you eat and drive in Wisconsin?

“Alright, now show me a parallel park.”
“Did someone say cheese fries?”

Back in driver’s ed (pictured above, that poor hungry girl) we learned a lot about paying attention while on the road. However, with so many drive-thru fast food options and the go-go-go nature of so many of our lives, it’s likely that nobody ever specifically said to us “Don’t eat and drive.” Not even our well-meaning driver’s ed instructor. It’s always been generally accepted that it’s a thing people do – your parents probably did it! How could they ever be wrong? Well…

Alright so let’s cut to the legality of the thing: Can you eat and drive in Wisconsin? Will you get pulled over for biting into your cheeseburger? No, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get you in trouble.

You can probably eat cheese while driving. You’re an expert.

Distracted driving is definitely a punishable offense if it causes an accident. After all, you’re neglecting your number one job when behind the wheel — to pay attention! So while your curly fries won’t single-handedly land you in the cop shop or service center, that which results in your paying more attention to them than the road certainly could.

So are we saying you should never put any food in your mouth while operating a motor vehicle? Not necessarily. Let’s say you’re cruising along in your Jeep, you’ve got some snack crackers in the center console, and you can reach into the bag and snack on a few while at a stop light or making your merry way along a sparsely-populated highway. Chances are, no big deal.

We love fruit, too, but can’t it wait til you get home?

But if you’re in heavy traffic, gripping the wheel, yelling at the kids, and biting into a big gooey donut… Yikes. Don’t do that. The donut can wait. We dare say maybe even the yelling can wait (though maybe it really can’t — we’ll leave you to do the parenting). In any case, the bottom line is that while you are allowed to eat behind the wheel, it’s your responsibility to do so in away that doesn’t inhibit your ability to pay full attention to the task at hand.

There are many distracted driving dangers nowadays, and we really don’t want you to be a perpetrator or a victim of any of them. We’re safety folks here at Palmen, what can we say?