New Law Aims to Keep Eyes on the Road, Not TV
A hundred hours: It’s exactly how long the Operation Desert Storm ground war lasted in 1991, and how long it took Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crew to reach the moon in 1969.
It’s also nearly the amount of time -- 101 hours, to be exact -- that the average rush-hour commuter in Los Angeles, the national capital of road congestion, spent stuck in traffic in 2001, according to a study released in September by the Texas Transportation Institute.
A hundred hours -- more than four solid days -- is a lot of time to spend alone encased in a glass-and-steel shell that isn’t moving, particularly when the time is added to the average half-hour daily commute.
In the last two years, drivers weary of singing along to the radio or “reading” books on tape have increasingly turned to in-car video and television systems that also are designed to amuse children riding in the back seat.
“The longer people commute, the more they’re turning their cars into entertainment centers,” said Art Acevedo, the California Highway Patrol’s assistant division commander for Los Angeles County. “These people have access to everything in their car; it’s a way to pass the time.”
Dennis Kotov, who manages Mobile Video Zone, a Cleveland-based retailer, said most of his customers still ask for rear-seat entertainment systems, but he obligingly rattled off what could be installed in the front seating area of cars and sport utility vehicles: in-dash screens, ceiling-mounted screens, visor screens, DVD players, videocassette players, television tuners and even gaming systems such as a Microsoft Xbox or Sony PlayStation, which can be mounted in a glove compartment for easy storage.
“It all plugs into the regular 12-volt fuse box,” he said.
But in September, the state Legislature updated a misdemeanor statute that prohibited drivers from having television screens in the front seat.
The new version, which took effect Jan. 1, also bans video monitors and screens, but permits small screens for navigation systems.
“People want to be entertained, and I can understand that,” said Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes (D-Fresno), who sponsored the legislation. “But people are paying more attention to their DVDs than to other cars on the road.”
Matt Sundeen, head of transportation programs for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said that, although most public attention focuses on legislation banning or restricting the use of cellular phones in cars, 38 states have outlawed front-seat entertainment systems.
“With TVs, I think the reaction is, ‘Well, duh,’ ” Sundeen said. “It’s supposed to be distracting.”
Most name-brand manufacturers wire their front-seat systems so that they will not play unless the parking or emergency brake is applied. They also require authorized dealers to sign agreements stating that they will not disable those safety features.
A car video installer at a Riverside Best Buy -- which, like Circuit City, Good Guys and some other big retail chains doesn’t sell front-seat entertainment systems -- said that, occasionally, he has had customers ask for ceiling-mounted flip-down screens to be put in view of the front seat.
“We won’t do it, but you can always find someone who will,” he said. “I’ve seen everything: People watching the game, TV, movies, everything.”
Al Patel, a car video sales representative who works with aftermarket car electronics dealers in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, said many people who have long done amateur car stereo installation will work with component parts or rewire systems so that they will play in the front seat while a car is in motion.
“We call them ‘trunk-slammers’ -- they’ll sell equipment out of their trunks and come to your house to do the installation,” Patel said.
A quick survey of online retailers, auction sites and car-centered message forums reveals that, for less than $500, a couch-potato commuter can buy a flat liquid-crystal display screen with a television tuner and DVD hookup mounted in a standard sun visor.
For about $1,000, drivers can upgrade to a 10-inch, ceiling-mounted, flip-down screen with an internal DVD system and TV reception, plus wireless headphones.
People willing to spring for hundreds of dollars more can equip their vehicles with touch-screen units, mounted in the dashboard, that display navigation systems as well as play DVDs and television broadcasts.
And for $24.95, motorists who find that watching TV in the car gives them motion sickness can buy military-designed glasses that eliminate nausea. But, because they work by blocking peripheral vision, they don’t exactly counter the safety-impairing effect of watching TV behind the wheel.
In 2005, Sirius, the New York-based satellite radio network, plans to start beaming four television channels to subscribers, said Ron Rodrigues, a company representative.
By then, there will be approximately 589,000 screens mounted in American cars, according to projections by the Consumer Electronics Assn., which officially opposes the use of front-seat entertainment systems. That number includes rear-seat screens.
Matt Swanston, an association spokesman, attributed the rapid rise of in-car entertainment to dramatic improvements in flat-screen display technology.
“The car is a tough environment for any electronics, especially for anything that involves liquid and crystal,” he said. “The screens didn’t used to work in the car, but in the last couple of years they have gotten less expensive, and they work better.”
According to the California Highway Patrol, 863 people were stopped in 2003 for watching television while driving, compared with 525 drivers in 2002 and 237 in 2001.
“You can see how it’s increased as these things have become more available,” said Tom Marshall, a CHP public affairs officer.
At night, screens are easy to spot by their telling blue, flickering glow. But during the day, video screens, especially those mounted in sun visors over a driver’s head, can be difficult for patrol officers to spot, especially in SUVs, which ride higher than officers’ motorcycles and patrol cars.
Still, Acevedo said, the most common indication that a driver is distracted works no matter what the time of day.
“Sometimes you see these vehicles weaving in the road, and you approach them thinking they’re drunk drivers,” he said. “And then it turns out they’re watching a movie.”
If you have a question, gripe or story idea about driving in Southern California, write to Behind the Wheel c/o Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or send an e-mail to behindthewheel@latimes.com.
