Posted on 01/19/2015 7:19:26 AM PST by BobNative
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — An Alabama man says he was cited by Cobb County police for “eating while driving” under the distracted driving law.
Madison Turner said he ordered a double quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald’s last week, and a police officer pulled him over, along Canton Road in Marietta.
“The officer explained to me that he observed me eating a burger for 2 miles,” Madison said. “He said specifically three times, you can’t just go down the road eating a hamburger.”
According to the ticket, the officer wrote him up under Georgia’s distracted driving law, and under the comments sections wrote “eating while driving.”
That law reads, in part: “A driver shall exercise due care in operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state and shall not engage in any actions which shall distract such driver from the safe operation of such vehicle.”
“Maybe I was enjoying the burger too much I needed to tone it down. I was certainly willing to do so but I didn’t expect to be fined or punished,” Madison said.
“If this was the law, I’d have to hire more attorneys because everybody does it including me,” said William Head, a longtime traffic and DUI attorney, who is not representing Turner.
“I’ve only seen something like this charge when there’s an accident. There was no accident here so the fact that this man was charged with eating and driving is a first for me,” Head said. Head added that law was very vague.
“Maybe if you had a giant pizza in both hands and you weren’t holding the wheel or maybe if you had a watermelon, half watermelon and you were just diving into it holding it with both hands, maybe that would be something,” Head said.
A spokesperson for Cobb County police said they could not comment, since the case is ongoing. Madison has a court date on Feb. 3.
LIGHTWEIGHT!!!! Back in the day in order to get a drivers license ya had to be able to open a beer(with a church key)light a cig and shift to 3rd at the same time!
This country has gone to hell!
Well, my worst offense was driving while holding multiple ice cream cones, and it was a stick shift.
How was this guy eating? I have seen people using both hands to eat a hamburger and driving with his knees. I saw a woman eating a bowl of cereal with both hands and driving with her knees. I see people reading books and newspapers. This is unacceptable.
The article is unclear what, exactly, this driver was doing.
My favorite is a lady holding a cell phone to her ear with one hand, looking in the mirror and playing with her hair with the other hand, going down the interstate at 70 mph.
Nothing was worse for driving than those little 8 oz beer cans.
Traffic tickets are about making an income for the LEOs who are constantly driving around violating the same laws they are writing tickets for.
Think about it distracted driving would include talking and fiddling about with a police radio and observing if other drivers are breaking the law. I mean if you are watching a guy eating a burger in another car for 2 miles straight then how can you be aware of the dangers of the road?
The regular Micky D burger was made for driving.
You can eat it with 1 hand.
If it were an old school Whopper insteas of McD, the cop mvht have had a case because “it takes to hands to handle a Whopper”.
Imagine the ramifications for fast-food places if this becomes a common occurence. I quit them years ago for financial reasons (with the unintended benefit of lower cholesterol); if they can’t sell food to be eaten while driving then they are done.
“To” should be “two”
I've never understood why those idiots don't have a bluetooth headset. For $20 they can keep both hands on the wheel. But then, I guess that's what makes them idiots.
A rack of ribs slathered in sauce can be tricky. Crimson goo all over the wheel, shifter, various knobs...
I'll see your lady with a guy reading the newspaper, and raise you with a woman shaving her legs while driving (nice below the waist shape too)
And you didn't leave your lane, speed or run anyone over.
I am so tired of weenies that cant drive and talk on the phone at the same time. They mucked it up for those of us that can.
Funny just watched that 2 minutes ago on FOX,they said it was staged
Only donuts allowed?
“There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” ― Ayn Rand
That said, eating is as much a distraction as holding a phone and creates an equal danger, so I can't say the cops are wrong.
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