When I grew up in the early 1960s, there weren't as many fast food restaurants as there are today, so whenever we went for a long drive in the country, my father would always take along a smoked sausage, saltines, and a jar of olives. When we kids would complain about being hungry, he would take out his Bull knife and cut us a large hunk of sausage. With some olives and crackers, this was considered quite the treat. It also may explain my lifelong sodium addiction.

This Christmas my wife Diane and I received some sausages as a gift and one of them was Thuringer, a beef sausage full of peppercorns, similar to summer sausage. I immediately recognized it as my father's favorite drive time snack.

Back in Florida, I knew a fellow, Stan, who would always bring along a special attaché case on business trips. The case was filled to the brim with bags of chips, snack cakes, and other junk food. Stan was deadly serious about his stash and seemed to have a phobia that he would get trapped some place, without proper nourishment. He was like my college roommate who brought a 10 pound tub of government surplus peanut butter to our dorm room, just to make sure he would never run out.

Over the past few months Diane and I have taken several car trips and have been perfecting our own snack survival kit. We have tried to go a bit healthier, adding boiled eggs and fruits to more traditional items.

According to national surveys about 70-80 percent of Americans eat or drink while driving their vehicles. Unfortunately eating in motor vehicles can be both dangerous and expensive. About 37 percent of people say that messiness is their primary concern, while eating in the car, but 33 percent say they are worried about safety.

A shocking 2009 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed that over 80 percent of auto accidents and 65 percent of near misses are caused by people being distracted by eating or drinking. In addition Jack Nerad, an analyst for the Kelley Blue Book has said, “Messy interiors potentially cost owners thousands of dollars when it comes time to turn in or sell their vehicles.”

I have known some people who have tried to impose a no eating policy in their cars, but today we spend so much time driving, this is virtually impossible to enforce. About a third of us rank burgers and fries as the “messiest foods” we have eaten in our cars. I wonder, right now, how many of us could find a petrified french fry between the car seats, if we cared to look.

Among distracting foods, coffee has been found to be the worst culprit followed by soup, tacos, chili dogs, hamburgers, ribs and wings, fried chicken, jelly doughnuts, soda and chocolate.

Hot liquids, of course should always be considered hazardous. According the NHTSA study, “Even with a travel lid, hot coffee can find its way out of the opening when you hit a bump.” Diane always worries me by taking the lid off of her coffee cup before she drinks it in the car. She doesn't like drinking through that tiny plastic opening, which makes the drink always seem hotter. I'm afraid the coffee will spill, we'll get scalded, losing control of the car. The only thing worse, I can imagine was the time, before I quit smoking, when I dropped a cigarette that rolled down between my legs, burning both my pants and the car seat — another great reason to quit smoking.

Some American companies have tried to address the messiness and safety issues related to eating in the car. Taco Bell, a company that does 70 percent of its business at the drive-through window, has purposefully tried to develop less messy products for in-car consumption.

Also some progressive automotive companies are looking at adding the option of stain-resistant interiors that can be literally hosed out. This could be a terrific boon allowing us to clear out the sticky residue from spilled drinks and sundaes. Stain-resistant fabric would also be a great improvement. I once had a truck that mysteriously evolved a large grease spot on the passenger seat, at the exact place, where I routinely set my bag of cheeseburgers when eating on the run. And then there was the time that Diane sat on a chocolate bar in our brand new car.

In a study sponsored by Taco Bell, Kelton Research conducted The Dashboard Dining Index Study of fast food menu items. They found that Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme, which was especially designed for one-handed in-car eating, led the pack as a vehicle-friendly fast food, followed by McDonald's Chicken McNuggets (sans dipping sauce), and Subway's Tuna Wrap. But can such tame items really satisfy us? Where's the challenge? Just for once I'd like to see someone eat flaming Cherries Jubilee while speeding 70 miles per hour down the Interstate. Bon appétit, but be careful and don't get any on the brake pedal.



Terry L. Stawar, Ed.D., lives in Georgetown and is the CEO of LifeSpring, the mental health center in Jeffersonville. He can be reached at tstawar@lifespr.com. Check out his Welcome to Planet-Terry blog and podcast at http://planetterry.wordpress.com.