So, would you eat an apple whilst driving?

[Tinker]

Here

Or do you think it is outrageously dangerous and highly irresponsible?

[donnie]

can't access the link properly, it appears to be an aol advert ! I did hear this story briefly on the radio news - and I have to confess I have driven while eating fruit, although it is quite difficult! won;t be doing it again though.....

[Caligula]

I have done it, but if caught by the police, would expect to be put bang to rights.

If you're holding something in your hand, you do not have full control of the car. You are supposed to have full control of the car, so it's quite right you get points or prosecuted if you don't. The only reason for removing your hand from the steering wheel whilst driving is to change gear.

Can't remember ever reading anything about people smoking while driving being prosecuted though, and I see that all the time.

[galaxy]

I was just about to say the same thing about smoking whilst driving. Far more dangerous and was hit in the face by a burning cigarette thrown from a car whilst cycling once.

[Tommy]

I used to eat an apple every day on my way home from work and....throw the apple core out of the car window into a field I am fully expecting to go back that way one day and to find a whole orchard.
But obviously I won't ever do it again...

[Sponge]

Of course I've done it. I've also got out a tissue and blown my nose, changed the station on the radio, handed things to dd in the back seat etc etc.
Yes, in theory you have slightly less control of the car but how many of us can really claim that our attention is 100% on the road 100% of the time, especially with kids in the car.

[Fimbo]

Agree about the cigarettes. My last boss used to drive whilst drinking coffee out of a plastic cup from a machine - mind you he always thought he was above the law

[biglips]

i wouldnt chance it now

[colditzmum]

someone once threw a cigarette out of a car window onto my lap!!!!!!! I was on a moped at the time. I picked it up, knocked on the window and posed it back in!!!!!! (Then rode off quickly)

[colditzmum]

POSTED it back in, I mean

[jessicasmummy]

I think it is ridiculous... sorry if people disagree, but for the police to have spent £10,000 to get this matter to court is plain stupidity. I regularly travel 200 miles with one stop (mainly toilet) so to travel that distance without taking my hand off the steering wheel is crazy. I will admitt to smoking while driving, taking juice from a bottle while driving and eating chocolate while driving - all with the help of DH, but I do it... and i challenge anyone to try and stop me. It has been made illegal to use a mobile phone while driving - i agree, but where does it state it is illegal to eat, drink or smoke????

[BadHair]

If I didn't eat while I was driving to work I wouldn't get fed. Will obviously now have to do it covertly, which will surely distract my attention far more than if I was just clutching a butty?

Anyway, with a bit of luck the police will soon be far too busy chasing illegal hunting folk round the countryside to nick people for eating their dinner.

[oatcake]

and what about picking your nose? scratching your head (whilst thinking about you ds's nursery having an outbreak of nits) or pulling your sun visor down.

Whilst, yeah, it's in the highway code that we're to have both hands on the wheel unless changing gear, I personally thought it was a waste of public money to spend so much on prosecuting a woman for eating an apple whilst driving.

[Caligula]

I don't know, I think it's quite a good use of public money if it reminds drivers what's legal or not. The very fact that people didn't realise it was illegal until this case was brought, shows that maybe drivers needed to be reminded.

The mobile phone law actually muddied the waters imo - it was totally unnecessary, as it was already against the law to be holding a mobile phone (or an apple, or a fag) before the specific law was brought in.

[jofeb04]

My dh (who works in the police) has been to many incidents where ppl have been eating, drinking etc, and someone has been seriously injured. I know it is a on off, and that 10,000ponds is alot of money to spend, but surely if you dd/ds was ran over by someone who had spilled hot coffee in the lap, you wouldnt care less about the cost

[oatcake]

true.

[fruitful]

Well, my car is an automatic so I don't need to change gear. Does that mean I'm allowed a certain number of seconds with one hand off the wheel every now and then in lieu of gear-changing? Perhaps to pick up my sports bottle of water from the cup holder conveniently provided by the car manufacturer? Or adjust the heating controls?

Obviously I can choose my one-handed moments more safely than people with manual gearboxes, who have to do one-handed steering at junctions...

[KateandtheGirls]

Fruitful, I'm with you. I have an automatic, and every morning I take a cup of coffee in the car on the way to school. Sometimes a can of diet coke in the afternoons. Sometimes I even eat a sandwich or something.

[Anteater]

Kate,
I got pulled over for drinking a can of coke while driving in Colorado. Officer made me empty can on roadside..

[KateandtheGirls]

No way! Really?

[Catbert]

here's the story for non aol users...

I know a woman who has inserted a tampax, and painted her nails whilst driving. Possibly not at the same time. She would have smudged them...

[KateandtheGirls]

PMSL Catbert

[jessicasmummy]

my ex p's mum used to change her clothes in the car while driving - socks and shoes the lot! she worked in an office during the day, and royal mail in the evening, so to save time she changed en-route! i wouldn't be so silly but drinking and eating is essential in my opinion!

[Blu]

My friend was done for eating a spring roll on the M6.

I don't feel I should defend it, but of course I have handed things to DS, taken mouthfuls of drinks and sandwiches etc, but I do sometimes think about that man a few years ago who swerved whilst opening a sweet and killed 6 people. They didn't jail him because he was deemed to be in such a state of devastation and guilt.

[weightwatchingwaterwitch]

Blimey. I eat apples/drink water/change the heating while driving, wouldn't occur to me that it was illegal. But I probably wouldn't do those while going round a corner, which is what she was doing. That story does say "chairman of the bench, Ken Buck, said: "We accept that there are times when you can drive with one hand, but, in holding an apple while negotiating a left hand turn, we consider you not to have been in full control."
So driving with one hand/eating an apple wasn't the issue, it was loss of control. They have always been able to do you for that haven't they? It says the police thought it was a mobile and that's why they stopped her. Guess they didn't want to back down once they had.

[nailpolish]

my dh can eat a whole mcd's meal and not drop a crumb. now THAT'S impressive