Increasingly, modern automobiles are coming equipped with new features that boggle the mind. Car seats that warm, stereos that play MP3s, combination door locks, and on-board DVD players with viewing screens are only a few popular perks available to buyers with the bucks to pay for them. Due to the questionable judgment of some drivers, that last car toy has drawn the negative attention of family values groups, including Focus on the Family.According to concerned family groups, incidences of what they call “drive-by porn” are increasing and need to be addressed by lawmakers throughout the nation.
Often used to entertain kids during long drives, some commuters have chosen to put far less child-friendly fare into their car-bound DVD players. Whether they realize it or not, the riders within these mobile pornographic theaters are not the only ones able to watch what’s happening on the screen, however.
Focus on the Family is concerned about the possibility that children in nearby cars may unwittingly become exposed to X-rated materials while their parents idle innocently at a stop light behind an SUV or otherwise equipped vehicle. The group’s worries are not entirely without merit, given the fact that drivers playing visible adult fare on their on-board DVD screens have indeed been pulled over by police, although few, if any, citations have been issued. It is this latter part that especially vexes Daniel Weiss, an analyst for Focus on the Family.
“A lot of areas don’t have laws against this. I think anytime you’re dealing with new technology, you’re going to see a stretching of existing laws… and you’re going to need to create new laws,” Weiss said.
Currently Michigan and some other states are attempting to address the issue. State Senator Alan Sanborn has sponsored a bill that would prohibit drivers from displaying pornography on their car video screens, and he believes that the proposed law is the “common sense thing to do.” Given that at least one South Carolina case of “drive-by porn” resulted in no conviction due to “privacy” concerns, in spite of an arrest, Sanborn and supporters may find legislative change more challenging than one might expect.
