You'd Think It Was Illegal!

Are there actually laws about what you can do while operating a motor vehicle? Could you conceivably get a ticket for eating a salad with a knife and fork from a bowl on your lap while driving? My family has been perfecting the art form of multi-tasking while driving for decades, mostly because we are always late! My sister has worked hard to rid herself of this habit, but the rest of us are still going strong! I have changed my clothes at the wheel, painted my nails, eaten meals (amateur stuff), and performed other tasks that at the moment elude me. My hero in this sport is Stacey Duvall who, while commuting to Manhattan as a new mother, pumped breast milk on the road!
On Monday I had a crooked wisdom tooth removed. I spent the night at my parent's house the night before and my mom drove me so that if I had to be sedated, I wouldn't be stranded at the Oral Surgeon's until the drugs wore off. Our plan when we went to bed was to leave at 9am, leaving time to get gas on the way. I needed to finish my laundry before we left. At 7:00 am I dragged my bleary-eyed self out of bed to pput one load in the dryer and start another in the washer. I reset my alarm for 7:45 to do a final transfer and went back to sleep. At 8:24 the delayed load of laundry, that included the only pair of pants I had with me, went into the dryer and I went back to sleep...again. My mom was out delivering flyers to the neighbors about the workshops she's teaching in the summer and getting gas. She'd be back at 9:15 to collect me. At 9:09 I shot out of bed after realizing the time, brushed my teeth and put on as many of my clothes as I could (pants still in dryer). At about 9:15 I heard the beeping of a car horn and when Mom came inside, I hopped out of the bathroom pulling on my socks and said "It could be worse, but it could be better!" While I retrieved my dry pants and collected my belongings, Mom made herself a breakfast salad (salad with eggs). I loaded my heaps of dry clothes into the car in such a way that I would be able to reach them for folding on the ride and in the process I crushed the poster Mom was planning to put up in the post office about her talk on the evils of sugar. I tried to get out of the car to iron the wrinkled poster and she told me not to be stupid.
The first time I looked at the clock once we were underway it read 9:36. My appointment was at 10:15 in Devon. This was totally do-able, but we still had to get gas! Mom grumbled at slow drivers and speed traps and ate her salad and I folded clothes. If we had been in an accident I would have found myself with a gut full of wicker.
"You know I think you may be the only person who would stand for this" I said to my mom.
"What's to mind?" she answered.
"Well it's a little distracting having laundry flying around in the seat next to you, and my piles are encroaching on you space."
"You're talking to a woman who's driving with a knife in her hand!" she said.
Every 10 minutes or so I would check the clock and reassure us both that we would totally make it!
We pulled into the parking lot at 10:07.
I come from hearty Viking stock. Our ancestors took one bath a year on Christmas. They yanked that sucker out with only a local anesthetic. I could have driven home myself, but then I would have missed out on the post-mother's-day bonding with the only woman who can match my eccentricity at the wheel. And my clothes would be wrinkled, because even I am not up to folding from the driver's seat!