The Associated Press
UTICA, Mich. (AP) -- Portable televisions that plug into cigarette lighters have long been used to pacify children on road trips.
But new flat-screen televisions for the dashboard are raising concerns from safety advocates.
Police say they are seeing -- and ticketing -- a growing number of Michigan motorists who illegally are watching reels on wheels.
Police don’t track how many people they catch breaking Michigan’s law banning channel-surfing while driving, but they do see a growing number of vehicles with in-dash television screens, The Detroit News reported Sunday.
“Most people won’t admit it,” said state police spokeswoman Anne Readett. “Unless a witness actually sees something, it’s hard to know.”
With prices falling to as low as $400 for some simple units, it is a luxury becoming more affordable every year.
“We probably do three a day,” said Tim Witek, 28, an installer at Civic Music in Utica. “It’s a luxury people can’t do without.”
Thirty-eight states, including Michigan, limit where video screens can be placed in vehicles, but motorists can override a standard safety feature that disables the screen when the car is moving.
Witek said installers will do it if the buyer signs a liability waiver.
Safety experts say front-seat video is such an obvious distraction, it barely has been studied.
“It’s very difficult to understand this belief that they can watch a video while driving and be safe,” said Michael Goodman of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “This is a growing concern.”
A Consumer Electronics Association study estimates manufacturers will sell 175,000 in-dash DVD units this year, more than triple the number sold just two years ago. The study projects sales will top 419,000 units annually by 2007.
Transportation experts have put a variety of distractions to the test, using simulators to study how using cell phones, navigational systems, radios and even eating a meal, are generally short-term attention-grabbers that put drivers at risk, experts say. But the dangers of, say, watching a movie while driving?
“There has been no research, specifically, on the devices, because it’s a no-brainer,” Goodman said.