In other bad driver news, a man was watching his dash-mounted DVD player when he crossed the double yellow line and hit a Jeep head on, killing two people. No link on the KIRO 7 news site yet.
I’ve talked about Left Seat Passengers before; people who are not “driving” their vehicles, but are merely passengers who happen to have a steering wheel in front of them. They take more interest in their phone conversations, eating, chatting with the right-seat passengers, playing with the stereo, putting on make-up, shaving, and even reading the newspaper. But this guy takes the biscuit. Dude, there’s a reason why it’s illegal to have a television in the front seats!
…and yet you can buy a dash-mounted DVD player with a little fold-out LCD screen at Best Buy. Why the hell are these things legal? What loophole do they fall through - it’s not as if only the passenger seat can see the damn thing.
Check your state laws. In New Jersey I know it is illegal for a tv to be visible to the driver. This was on the books even before the portable DVD players came out. Many states have similar laws. You can only watch if you are in the backseat.