A man travelling through Georgia made headlines this week when he was ticketed for eating a fast food hamburger while driving. When Madison Turner was pulled over, he likely had no idea that his Quarter Pounder with Cheese was going to lead to a ticket.
People have reacted strongly to this story, criticizing police action and calling it "ridiculous." After all, who hasn't gone through the drive-through, grabbed a bite to eat, and eaten it while driving to their destination?
While it may seem like overkill, the ticket was actually in line with Georgia's distracted driving law, which makes it a traffic violation to perform any activity while driving that takes one's attention away from the task at hand.
Driver distraction includes manual, visual, and cognitive distraction. In other words, it is anything that takes your hands off the wheel, your eyes off the road, or your mind off driving. Typically, we think of "distracted driving" as using a cell phone or texting while driving, but almost any activity other than focused driving can be considered distracted driving:
In November, we wrote about the top causes of distracted driving. That article revealed that the most common cause of distracted driving was not texting or cell phone use. Instead, by far the greatest culprit behind driver distraction is daydreaming, or being lost in thought.
Eating while driving, however, did make the top five. So is eating while driving against the law in Oklahoma?
Technically, yes. However, Oklahoma's distracted driving statute is fairly weak. If a police officer or Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper saw you eating a burger, fixing your hair, or using a cell phone while driving, he or she could not pull you over on that basis alone. Currently, distracted driving is a secondary offense. This means that the law enforcement officer could conduct a traffic stop if he or she witnessed a traffic violation or erratic driving as a result of your burger, but not simply because you were eating while driving. According to OHP trooper Betsy Randolph, you can only be issued a citation for distracted driving if your actions cause an accident.
There are a number of bills proposed before the state legislature that would strengthen Oklahoma's distracted driving laws. Most of those apply to specific texting while driving bans. Currently 43 states have texting while driving laws. Oklahoma is one of only seven states that do not.
