Can You Actually Get Pulled Over for Eating Behind the Wheel?

THOMASVILLE, GA (#WTXLDigital) - There are a lot of ways drivers get distracted, but what if a cheeseburger was stopping someone from focusing on the road?

One man in Cobb County got a ticket for distracted driving, but he wasn't texting a friend or turning up the volume. He was just hungry.

Madison Turner, who lives in Alabama, says that he got a double quarter pounder with cheese from McDonalds before hitting the road. That's when an officer pulled him over.

He says that the officer saw him eating the cheeseburger for two miles, and the officer told him that "You can't just go down the road eating a hamburger."

The ticket was issued under Georgia's distracted driving law, and in the comments section, it said "eating while driving."

Most of us have had a bite to eat while driving, but can we actually get pulled over for it?

Captain Steve Jones from the Thomas County Sheriff's Office says that the Georgia law takes into account cell phones, specifically texting while driving. However, he says that officers concentrate on making sure that drivers are focused solely on driving, instead of what's going on around them.

Captain Jones says that he pulled over a woman for reading while driving. "She had the book on the steering wheel while driving on the road at 60 miles per hour."

When it comes to distracted driving, Georgia law covers the following:

• Ban on all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for bus drivers (Primary law)
• Ban on all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for novice drivers (Primary law)
• Ban on texting for all drivers (Primary law)

"Eating" isn't listed anywhere.

However, Georgia law defines the meaning of the distracted driving law with the following statement:

"A driver shall exercise due care in operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state and shall not engage in any actions which shall distract such driver from the safe operation of such vehicle." 

According to the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety, this statement is just a general stance on the law, and that this specific law goes further into detail on how it applies to using a cell phone behind the wheel.

The law is Georgia law 40-6-241, which is the distracted driving law for the state - the one that Madison Turner got a ticket for. 

Here's the number of convictions for that law:

So, if you're driving in Georgia and that cheeseburger you're eating is just so delicious that it takes over all your senses, it's probably best to stop somewhere before taking another bite.