By
EWAN KENNEDY
9 January 2006
The National Motorists Association of Australia (NMAA) has expressed
concern about the dangerous practice of 'eat-driving'. Jim Wright, the
secretary of the NMAA, says that American findings appear to prove that
eating behind the wheel is potentially even more dangerous than using a
mobile phone.
I don’t know if that research can be
directly translated to Australia as our habits usually aren't as bad as
the American's.
I don’t know if you have ever driven in
the United States, but they do just about everything in their cars. It’s
common practice for drivers to have their breakfast during the trip to
work in the morning; a hot cup of coffee precariously balanced on the
centre console, with the passenger seat acting as a table for a plate of
cereal, perhaps even a bacon and egg roll just picked up from a
drive-through takeaway.
The more imaginative American drivers
sometimes even have a stab (pun intended) at shaving, brushing their
hair, or applying makeup, according to their sex and other inclinations.
Our cousins from the other side of the
Pacific even chuckle over occasional driving mishaps; heavy braking can
cause a huge mess as the ingredients of breakfast mix with one another
in a horrible slime on the driver’s lap or the carpet on the
passenger-seat side of the car. I've never heard them chuckle over the
huge mess created to human bodies during fatal crashes when things
really do go wrong, though…
Eat-driving is considered normal in the
USA and I’m sure many Americans would be offended if you criticised
them for doing it. Australians generally aren't nearly as bad, but we
seem to be moving in the wrong direction. Especially in Sydney and
Melbourne where ever-thickening traffic means drivers are having to get
up earlier just to get to work on time. Our guys seem to feel that
reading the morning paper, making some phone calls or scribbling a few
notes in the diary is quite acceptable.
Concentration slumps if you are eating
behind the wheel and an inattentive driver is a dangerous driver. More
and more road safety experts are classifying inattention as being the
number one cause of crashes. The trouble is it’s impossible to police
inattention so education has to be the answer.
I've said it before and make no apologies
for saying it again. The only thing you should be doing whilst driving a
car is just that – driving a car. If you don’t have two hands on the
steering wheel, two eyes on the road and 100 per cent of your mind on
the task at hand you’re putting your life and those of others around
you at serious risk.
