Drinking coffee while driving

chillin117

Was pulled over and warned about drinking coffee by Garda yesterday, He checked all my licence etc and said I could be charged with Driving without due care and attention. He was nice enough to me. Could you be hit with the same for eating an apple ? Did not know drinking tea/coffee was a no no ?

Toots

I'd imagine technically if you could be done for drinking coffee you could be done for eating an apple, or eating/drinking anything?? I never knew that was a thing.

Atlantic Dawn

Where you all over the shop on the road or what?

jimbis

He'd want to be a very brave Garda to bring such a case up infront of a judge. Unless you done some seriously bad driving while supping that coffee.

Voodoomelon

You probably caught his attention somehow, then when your license and insurance etc checked out, he felt the need to spout some nonsense. Cars have cupholders for a reason.

chillin117

Voodoomelon wrote: »

You probably caught his attention somehow, then when your license and insurance etc checked out, he felt the need to spout some nonsense. Cars have cupholders for a reason.

No, My driving was grand, He was just going by me in the fast lane and looked across as I was taking a sup

Andrewf20

And yet alot of cars have coffee cup holders installed on the dash which implies that it's not a concern generally surely?

Rolllo

I reckon they should be stricter on it - not saying you were driving dangerously OP, but there's plenty who are, hands off the wheel and eyes off the road while they get a good mouthful of a breakfast roll. I've seen people with bowls of cereal up on the wheel more than once and open cups of steaming hot drinks. A lad even crashed into the back of my sister's car once because he was too busy eating an ice-cream cone.

syklops

Andrewf20 wrote: »

And yet alot of cars have coffee cup holders installed on the dash which implies that it's not a concern generally surely?

By the same logic if a car had an ice bucket and a holder for martini glasses, then drinking cosmopolitans while driving would be fine.

wonski

syklops wrote: »

By the same logic if a car had an ice bucket and a holder for martini glasses, then drinking cosmopolitans while driving would be fine.

So is it designed to only be used when not driving?

If I want to drink a water what should I do? Pull over?

Seriously let's ban driving, this would make us safe.

tuxy

chillin117 wrote: »

He was just going by me in the fast lane and looked across as I was taking a sup

I think we all know about the driving lane / overtaking lane by now. Took decades to get peoples head around this. But is this the correct term for the lane to the right of a climbing lane?

Esel

tuxy wrote: »

I think we all know about the driving lane / overtaking lane by now. Took decades to get peoples head around this. But is this the correct term for the lane to the right of a climbing lane?

Not unless the climbing lane is called the slow lane.

tuxy

Esel wrote: »

Not unless the climbing lane is called the slow lane.

I often see them marked as such. Like here for example.
https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.8548711,-8.0673028,3a,75y,80.47h,75.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTlbkaVxLBlrO4XhivDE7BA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

But would that make the right hand lane the driving lane or the fast lane?

Esel

tuxy wrote: »

I often see them marked as such. Like here for example.
https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.8548711,-8.0673028,3a,75y,80.47h,75.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTlbkaVxLBlrO4XhivDE7BA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

But would that make the right hand lane the driving lane or the fast lane?

Normal speed lane?

Not fast lane anyway - we'd never hear the end of it!

Mellor

Voodoomelon wrote: »

You probably caught his attention somehow, then when your license and insurance etc checked out, he felt the need to spout some nonsense. Cars have cupholders for a reason.

Cars are also able to break the speed limit, possible doesn't mean legal.

To be clear, I don't think it is illegal. I just don't think the fact it has a cup holder is relevant to the law. Could be argued the cup holder is for the passengers.

What way is the mobile phone whilst driving law phrased? It's possible that drinking something with there head back would be distracted from the road in a similar fashion. But sipping a coffee, he's having a laugh

savagethegoat

there is a risk in drinking hot coffee I suppose, if you dumped the lot in your lap by accident (obviously) it could result in a major incident.

There's also the risk of driving one handed to consider.

_Kaiser_

savagethegoat wrote: »

there is a risk in drinking hot coffee I suppose, if you dumped the lot in your lap by accident (obviously) it could result in a major incident.

There's also the risk of driving one handed to consider.

Automatics FTW

I regularly would have a bottle of coke/orange or a coffee in the car and generally also drive one-handed - but both depend on the scenario involved.

- On clear free-flowing motorway (especially at some of the early/late hours I do those trips)... no issue whatsoever

- In busy start-stop traffic... not such a good idea

Chuchote

Well… scalding hot coffee, you're drinking it, with eyes lifted over the rim of the cup and one hand on the wheel. Someone drives fast out of a side road, or suddenly decides to change lanes in front of you… you're not really in full control of the car, are you?

theoneeyedman

Andrewf20 wrote: »

And yet alot of cars have coffee cup holders installed on the dash which implies that it's not a concern generally surely?

YEA, and they have that handy little mirror on the visor for doing yer make up while driving too, so what gives Gard.

Seriously though, WTF was the Guard at....such BS.

vandriver

Prosecutions have happened in the UK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3406669/Driver-pay-145-eating-banana-wheel.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-335291/Pipped-Woman-driver-fined-eating-apple.html

And wasn't Gillian Taylforth done for eating something too?

Special Circumstances

They went big time on it the UK at one stage, I dunno did common sense prevail or not in the end.

If it's found to be a contributing factor to a crash or impeding other motorists through lack of progress, sure why not punish. I don't see the problem myself otherwise - except that the law doesn't differentiate between changing radio station, sipping occasionally from a covered coffee cup in an auto etc and "applying full battle paint and straightening hair on the N7 in rush hour". Gardai with a bit of cop on are needed to do that...

Mellor

Chuchote wrote: »

Well… scalding hot coffee, you're drinking it,

If it's scalding hot you prob shouldn't be drinking it.

"It's alright guard, it's a cappuccino and this is an automatic"

Special Circumstances

vandriver wrote: »

Prosecutions have happened in the UK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3406669/Driver-pay-145-eating-banana-wheel.html

3 points for driving without due care and attention... you can FORGET about insurance in Ireland if you were to be caught eating fruit, supping coffee at the wheel if we got the same way. No insurance calculator is gonna give you the benefit of the doubt there.

I think there should be some observed negative consequences of the heinous fruit eating eg weaving, impeding other motorist (dodgy in fairness, plenty of useless f**kers holding people up without eating).

_Kaiser_

Chuchote wrote: »

Well… scalding hot coffee, you're drinking it, with eyes lifted over the rim of the cup and one hand on the wheel. Someone drives fast out of a side road, or suddenly decides to change lanes in front of you… you're not really in full control of the car, are you?

Mellor wrote: »

If it's scalding hot you prob shouldn't be drinking it.

"It's alright guard, it's a cappuccino and this is an automatic"

*sigh...* read what I typed lads!

I regularly would have a bottle of coke/orange or a coffee in the car and generally also drive one-handed - but both depend on the scenario involved.

- On clear free-flowing motorway (especially at some of the early/late hours I do those trips)... no issue whatsoever

- In busy start-stop traffic... not such a good idea

Clearer?

Chuchote

Speaking as the cyclist whose life depends on your having two hands on the wheel and full attention on the road, I'd rather you weren't having your breakfast instead of concentrating on operating heavy machinery.

dr.fuzzenstein

http://www.hairybaby.com/ngardai/

Special Circumstances

Mellor wrote: »

"It's alright guard, it's a cappuccino and this is an automatic"

_Kaiser_

Chuchote wrote: »

Speaking as the cyclist whose life depends on your having two hands on the wheel and full attention on the road, I'd rather you weren't having your breakfast instead of concentrating on operating heavy machinery.

My question would be what are you as a cyclist doing on a motorway at 6am/midnight? (because you still haven't read my post correctly it seems)

Esel

Chuchote wrote: »

Speaking as the cyclist whose life depends on your having two hands on the wheel and full attention on the road, I'd rather you weren't having your breakfast instead of concentrating on operating heavy machinery.

Can't I even change gear now? I'd rather you kept both eyes on the road ahead, and the other one on the road behind your behind.

Montgolfier

The RSA say on there TV ad on long journeys drink a coffee and take a nap. I always thought coffee keeps you awake so the nap should be first

Mellor

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

*sigh...* read what I typed lads!

Clearer?

Not sure why you still my post was directed at you?

For the record, I drink coffee all the time when driving.
One time a eat a cheeseburger and Diet Coke. No chips of course, I'm not a maniac