Recent studies indicate that drinking even non-alcoholic beverages and driving is an important cause of auto accidents [h/t Jack]. I'm not surprised. You tip a coffee cup and you can no longer see where you are going very well.
... a nice cup of coffee is more dangerous than an iPhone or BlackBerry while driving.
The article and column in the link suggest that spills are the cause of the accidents; they do not mention visibility. But I suspect the loss of visibility as one tips a coffee cup or a pop can up in front of one's eyes plays a role, too.
Drinking with a straw would likely reduce both the spilling and the visibility problems. As I have posted before,
I drink coffee with a straw. I realize that most take-out coffee comes with a lid that has a tear-up section or pre-punched hole to drink through, and that these lids help prevent spills. But I'm still perfectly capable of spilling coffee when I drink it from the cup. So I stick a straw through the hole.
Some years ago, Ms. Eclectic and I discovered that if we drink coffee through a straw, it is much less likely to spill, especially when we are in the car, driving down the road.
And a real bonus of drinking anything through a straw while driving is that your vision of the road is never obstructed. You don't tip the cup or can or bottle up in front of your face when you drink through a straw — you can always keep your eyes on the road and the traffic when you drink coffee (or anything else, for that matter) through a straw in the car (and to head off the likely questions, no I do not and I do not advocate drinking beer [or other alcoholic beverages] while driving, nor have I tried drinking beer through a straw).
And, no, at home I do not drink Lagavulin or Caol Ila (or any other scotch) with a straw.