Beginning to Explore Dashboard Dining

It can be nutritious and healthy if done right. Fruits and vegetables, a granola bar, smoothie, or some fresh squeezed Florida orange juice would be good choices. On the other hand, it can poison you. Perishable protein and dairy products must be packed in a wellinsulated cooler with plenty of ice and a refrigerator thermometer kept inside to en-sure the food stays below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are not completely safe, it can kill you. According to Hagerty Insurance of Traverse City, Michigan, the top ten worst foods to consume are coffee, hot soups, tacos, chili, juicy hamburgers, fried chicken, any barbecued food, filled doughnuts, soft drinks, and chocolate. (see Lisa Chin, 2003) It simply takes a sudden scalding spill, an unexpected splash, or dripping condiments, any of which demand your immediate attention, to become an instant fatality. This article is available in Hospitality Review: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/hospitalityreview/vol23/iss2/7 Beginning to Explore Dashboard Dining By David Walczak It can be nutritious and healthy ifdone right. Fruits and vegetables, agranola bar. smoothie, or some fresh squeezed Florida orange juice would be good choices. On the other hand, it can poison you. Perishable protein and dairy products must be packed in a wellinsulated cooler with plenty of ice and a refrigerator thermometer kept inside to en-sure the food stays below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Ifyou are not completely safe, it can kill you. According to Hagerty Insurance of Traverse Ciw, Michigan, the top ten worst foods to consume are cofee, hot soups, tacos, chili, juicy hamburgers, fried chicken, any barbecued food,3lled doughnuts, soft drinks, and chocolate. (see Lisa Chin, 2003) It simply takes a sudden scalding spill, an unexpected splash, or dripping condiments, any of which demand your immediate atention, to become an instant fatality. Introduction Dashboard dining goes by many different names: cup-holder cuisine, drive-through cuisine, one-handed food, port-a-fuel, meals-on-the-move, and "car-nivores" are used interchangeably. All refer to the same idea: consuming food and nonalcoholic drinks while driving a car or truck. It is fast becoming part of everyday life for drivers across America. People eat while they drive because of their busy lifestyles, while stuck in traffic, or as a way to kill time on a long, boring commute to and from work. New products such as hamburgers in the shape of hot dogs, applesauce, yogurt, peanut butter, or pudding in squeezable tubes, and snacks in cupholder friendly containers are being produced to make dining easier for drivers. Most of what has been written about dashboard dining appears in the popular press, mostly newspaper stories, and is anecdotal and speculative. Few independent, scientific studies have been conducted on this topic. This paper attempts to shed a little scientific light on the practice of dashboard dining by reporting on the results of a survey. The information should give some insight into the behavior of dashboard diners that could help fast-food, convenience store, and gas station mini-mart operators, as well as food and beverage manufacturers, to make more informed decisions about which products and services to provide. Literature review Few studies address the topic of dashboard dining. Those that do focus on eating and drinking while driving as a source of driver distraction. In 2002, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety conducted a national telephone survey of 1,013 drivers. Eating a meal or snack while driving was the third most likely distracting activity followed by talking with a passenger and adjusting the vehicle's stereo or climate control. The survey also revealed that only 10% of those who eat a meal or snack while driving consider the activity to be ''very dangerous," compared to 19% of the general public, i.e., those who do not dashboard dine. These results were supported by a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 4,010 drivers conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2002). Talking with passengers, changing radio stations, or looking for CDs/ tapes were potential distracting behaviors that drivers engaged in more frequently than eating or drinking. When asked to rate twelve potentially distracting behaviors that make driving more dangerous, drivers rated eating and drinking in eleventh place. These studies looked at eating and drinking only as a potential source of distraction. They did not consider the role this behavior plays in specific crashes. In the mid-90s, the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center was awarded a contract by the American Automobile Associations' Foundation for Traffic Safety to study the role of driver distraction in traffic crashes. The project was divided into two phases. The primtuy focus of Page: 66 FIU Review Vol. 23, No. 2