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According to a report released on Monday by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 95 percent of car collisions in the U.S. occur while the driver of one of the cars involved is trying to eat a full-to-the-brim bowl of soup.
“Driving while attempting to consume a full, sloshing bowl of soup is extremely dangerous, in part because on the angle of the driver’s body,” said Bill Tanning, a researcher at the NHTSA. “It makes driving difficult because the driver’s torso leans far forward over the soup bowl, instead of upright an facing the road."
Tanning added that drivers were compromised when they chose to eat full-to-the-brim bowls of soup because both their hands were occupied—one holding the soup container and the other carefully spooning the soup.
According to the report, drivers eating full-to-the-brim bowls of soup are often unable to give driving their full attention because they are worried about spilling hot soup all over their legs, and they can’t wait to get that delicious spoonful of soup into their mouth.
“Soup eating driving is distracted driving. Simple as that,” said Tanning.
The report emphasized that even fender benders could become more dangerous if one or both of the parties involved is eating soup, because soup holders are likely to burn themselves on the piping hot soup that sloshed out of their bowl.
The report concluded with recommendations both for individual drivers and government organizations. The report encouraged drivers to pull over when they need to eat a big bowl of soup, or simply eat soup before they leave the house in order to prevent rumbly stomachs on the road. The report also suggested that governments construct rest stops along roads for drivers who need to eat a full-to-the-brim bowl of soup to do so without endangering others.
