The problem is, they already have laws on the books for that. It's called inattentive or distracted driving.
There's no reason to create new laws. Cell-phones, eating, drinking, applying make-up, etc..., are all covered under distracted driving.
I agree with you. And I also hate the idea of expanding or creating new laws. I was just pointing out that this proposed legislation doesn’t sound quite as draconian as the article makes it sound.
But from what I understand, under most current state laws and specifically in NJ, if a police officer observes distracting driving (aside from using a cell phone where it is illegal), but he has not observed the driver driving dangerously (yet). i.e. driving erratically, drifting in and out of lanes, etc., the officer has no reason to pull them over, and unless I am wrong, the driver can only be charged/ticketed with distracted driving if there is an accident or a moving violation as a result, after the fact.
Of course, it would be much better if people just used common sense. The problem is not people simply drinking coffee or water or soda while driving but doing things while driving that truly distracts them - texting being the biggest cause and or using their smart phones to post on social media and now, most recently playing Pokemon Go.
Applying makeup or doing their hair (or tweezing their eyebrows) or reading a newspaper or a map or in some cases eating (eating ramen noodles with chop sticks for instance) are also stupid things to do while driving. It seems that some people are always in a hurry and are trying to multi-task while driving. The solution is to get up earlier and do those things at home and not behind the wheel of a car.