As most of us are aware, there are a myriad of activities that now take place while driving. Other than driving, that is. For instance, how many times have you seen someone who’s supposed to be driving, talking on their cell phone, or eating a sandwich, or putting on makeup, or worse, reading?! Plenty. Why, recently, I even witnessed a driver working on a crossword puzzle. Can you imagine? Yes, you can. We all can.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are 185,500,000 licensed drivers in the U.S., and 26 percent of all traffic fatalities among these drivers are caused by driver distraction. Distracted drivers, states The Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, cause at least 4,000 to 8,000 accidents per day.

Hagerty Classic Insurance, one of the world’s leading insurers of collectible automobiles investigated the dangers of driving and eating when it reviewed a recent claim. The driver in question received a "restraining order" against anything edible within his reach due to numerous accidents related to food! Hagerty then reviewed recent government statistics compiled by NHTSA on accidents caused by driver distraction. A recent analysis of 32,303 drivers by NHTSA found that eating was a bigger distraction than a hand-held cell phone.

With this data in hand, Hagerty compiled a list of the "Ten Most Dangerous Foods to Eat While Driving," to help protect motorists, passengers and pedestrians, as well as to help in the effort to reduce vehicle damage caused by inattentiveness behind the wheel. The research team at Hagerty rated common foods eaten in cars according to the degree of distraction, degree of difficulty in eating with only one hand on the wheel, and the food’s popularity. They then ranked the top 10 foods from bad to worst. This is what they found:

1. Chocolate: Whatever the driver touches (steering wheel, stick shift, clothing) will carry distinctive fingerprints. Drivers’ reactions are to immediately clean the stains immediately, which distracts them from the road and the task at hand: driving.
2. Soft Drinks: Open containers (hot or cold beverage) can distract a driver when spilled on clothing or upholstery. Suddenly you’re wearing your cola when pulling out to pass another vehicle.
3. Jelly and Cream-Filled Donuts: Messy jelly invariably oozes out of the donut onto the drivers’ clothing, diverting their attention toward the spill and away from traffic.
4. Fried Chicken: Greasy hands are a distraction as drivers tend to constantly try and clean them. Grease gets on the steering wheel and is almost impossible to remove.
5. Barbecued Food: Barbecue sauce is one of the messiest and sure to stain food products. Trying to eat anything barbecued while not driving is a feat. Drivers should remember "if it can drip, don’t eat it while you drive."
6. Juicy Hamburgers: Messy or greasy extras are a disaster while driving. A $5 hamburger deluxe could turn into a $500 worth of repairs if dripping condiments, special sauces or greasy meat juices distract the driver.
7. Chili: Anything containing chili (chili dog, sloppy joe, Coney dog) is difficult to consume. Steering chili-covered foods to your mouth while steering a car around a corner requires more finesse than most humans possess.
8. Tacos: Now here’s a foodstuff that almost always dissembles while eaten. Imagine trying to navigate the taco to the mouth while driving. One good road bump and the seat of your car looks like a salad bar.
9. Hot Soups: Eating soup while attempting to shift a manual transmission is not sensible. It’s the equivalent to a circus juggling act: a sure recipe for disaster.

And…Number 10: Coffee

Uncovered drinks of any kind generally are the greatest offenders for unexpected splashes and spills. Coffee spills are the worst of all beverages; it stains clothing and seats and carpeting. One of the world’s most popular beverages is by far, the worst offender because most drivers want to try and clean it up immediately following a spill, thus, distracting them from driving. In addition, hot coffee is often served at temperatures near scalding, and can cause serious burns.

Hagerty also learned during their research that more food-related accidents happen in the morning than in the evening because people are concerned about their appearance on the way to work. The odds of having a food-related accident, they found, can double if the vehicle has a stick shift. Clearly, trying to eat, drink, shift and steer requires increased dexterity and adds one more variable to the equation.

The most hazardous situation combines eating and cellular phone use. When the phone rings, the "driver distraction" increases significantly. In a rush to answer, drivers forget they’re driving, and if the call is stressful, their powers of concentration are diverted.

McKeel Hagerty, President of Hagerty Classic Insurance expressed special concern for the majority of his insured drivers as most of them own and drive classics and exotic vehicles. Most of these vehicles do not have cupholders. "If this ‘distracted driving’ issue is a problem for our conscientious drivers,: says Hagerty, "imagine how far-reaching it must be among the general motoring population."