Man Ticketed for Eating Burger While Driving

Georgia cop says Madison Turner broke 'distracted driving' law
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 19, 2015 9:35 AM CST
Man Ticketed for Eating Burger While Driving
Madison Turner was observed eating a quarter pounder with cheese "for 2 miles."   (AP Photo/McDonald's, Claire Quinn)

"You can't just go down the road eating a hamburger." That, Madison Turner says, is what a Cobb County, Ga., police officer told him "three times" after pulling him over last week for distracted driving. Turner had been enjoying a double quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald's when the officer stopped him and "explained to me that he observed me eating a burger for 2 miles," Turner tells WSB-TV. On the ticket the officer gave Turner, he wrote, "eating while driving." The Alabama man has a Feb. 3 court date.

As for the law Turner allegedly broke, it states in part that a driver "shall not engage in any actions which shall distract such driver from the safe operation of such vehicle." A traffic attorney who's not involved with the case notes that he typically only sees such charges if an accident has occurred. "Maybe if you had a giant pizza in both hands and you weren’t holding the wheel," he muses, then such a rule might apply. "Or maybe if you had a watermelon, half watermelon and you were just diving into it holding it with both hands." (A woman was arrested for driving after allegedly downing a baking ingredient.)

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