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Published on Sunday, April 4, 2004
in the Miami Herald
Cellphones and business reports, eyeliner and Whoppers. As if South Florida motorists were not sufficiently distracted already, now available in your four-wheel entertainment center -- also known as your car, van, SUV or truck:
Oprah, Shrek and, hang on for this one, Debbie Does Dallas.
Video entertainment screens now illuminate hundreds of thousands of vehicles, beguiling passengers, sedating children and sometimes distracting drivers, all of which worries police officers and some psychologists.
Most screens are visible only to back-seat passengers, but police say they are writing a rapidly rising number of citations for violating a Florida law that bans entertainment videos within sight of the driver.
''It's a distraction,'' said Lt. Roger J. Reyes, a nine-year Florida Highway Patrol trooper based in Broward County. ``It makes you look at it. I have had people pull up to see what's on the TV in the car next to them.''
Another trooper, Vernon Slater, recently stopped behind an aging Chevy that dawdled at West Sunrise Boulevard and Northwest 31st Avenue. There they sat for a green light, a red light and part of another green light.
Slater finally pulled alongside and saw four men, including the driver, watching a porn movie on four screens. He wrote the ticket.
''We're not talking about two-inch screens -- we're talking 10-inch plasma screens,'' Slater said about the dozens of video-equipped cars he has stopped.
BONDING TIME
Some psychologists aren't thrilled, either. They say families should use driving time as bonding time, and that kids should use it to look out the window and daydream.
''Riding in the car together is a wonderful opportunity to sing, to talk, to pray, to teach,'' said Dotty Sasmor, a West Kendall psychologist. 'It's a chance for families to connect, and we're tossing that into the amusement arena again. It's another case of people saying, `Let's keep the kids away from us.' ''
Still, the popularity of video-to-go cannot be denied.
At least 400,000 mobile entertainment video screens were sold last year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, and the number is rising annually.
''They're very popular right now,'' said Andy Perez, owner of Tintek Plus of Miami, which sells the devices. ``It's entertainment for the whole family, especially kids in the back seat, on long trips to Disney World and places like that.''
Said Rick Cange, auto installation manager at a Circuit City in Pembroke Pines: ``It's huge. In March, we sold twice as many as we did in February.''
GOODS ON THE GEAR
Video players suitable for mobile use include portable DVD units, overhead flip-down pods, screens mounted on the backs of front-seat headrests and screens installed in the dashboard, often as part of a radio/video/MP3 player.
The cost ranges from less than $200 to more than $1,000. Some upscale vehicles include video systems as standard equipment.
It is even possible to watch satellite TV in your vehicle, although that currently requires a large antenna.
Both satellite radio broadcasters -- Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio -- are working on systems to transmit real-time or stored video.
''The screens have gotten really bright, really clear, less expensive and more durable, so we're seeing them more and more,'' said Matt Swanston, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association.
The association urges manufacturers to ensure -- and Florida and most other states require -- that drivers cannot see entertainment videos while the vehicle is in motion.
''That means pulling the emergency brake up or putting the car in park'' before the screen begins showing video to a driver, Swanston said.
ALLOWABLE CONTENT
Those laws and ''lockout'' policies apply only to entertainment programming -- not to screens that show navigation maps, images from onboard cameras or other driving aids. Those are allowed in drivers' sight while the vehicle is moving.
But police are finding that some disreputable installers and creative motorists are disengaging safety devices on mobile entertainment screens or otherwise disobeying the law, which authorizes a fine of about $50.
''Five years ago, we'd see one or two citations a week,'' said Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Ferrell, a 23-year veteran who works in Broward and Palm Beach counties. ``Now we're seeing five or six a day.''
Counterintuitively, this offense is considered a nonmoving violation.
Slater, the state trooper, believes that it should be changed to a moving violation.
Drivers already have enough to worry about, Slater said, as they concentrate on distance, speed, steering and braking. ''You don't need anything extra,'' he said.
But, of course, distraction means different things to different people.
''Bored kids and bored passengers are a larger source of distraction than anything else in the car,'' Swanston said. ``What better place for an electronic baby sitter than when the kids are tied to their chairs?''
And what about the good old days, when parents loaded the tykes into the back seat and told them to shut up, look out the window and use their imagination?
''That may be a bit of revisionist history,'' Swanston said. ``I'm old enough to remember car trips and reading the stack of magazines, and after a couple of hours, you're just poking your sister in the ribs.''