WHILE LAWMAKERS IN Massachusetts and across the country worked to pass distracted driving laws limiting how much a person can mess around on a phone while operating a car, built-in screens in cars themselves have far surpassed the size and sometimes even matched the capacity of the average cell phone.

Since 2019, car manufacturers have been in an arms race for the biggest screens possible to lure customers. More and more, lawmakers worry that the in-car displays are just as distracting for drivers as their smartphone cousins. 

“Even though cars are being billed with more safety features than ever before, backup alerts and proximity warnings and all kinds of stuff, we are still seeing pedestrian injuries and casualties, vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to bicycle,” said Rep. William Straus, House chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation. “So the dangerousness is still there.”

The Mattapoisett Democrat was referring to a recent report that found a record number of pedestrian road fatalities in 2022. Transportation officials are focused on road safety signage and pedestrian education campaigns. Straus thinks a solution might be inside the car.

An assortment of bills this cycle are taking aim at vehicle display screens. One proposed by Straus would require vehicles manufactured in 2025 and beyond to be designed to “lock out” certain tasks on their visual displays while being driven, such as manual text entry or playing videos. Another pitched by Sen. Mark Montigny of New Bedford offers similar language, mandating that no car registered in the Commonwealth be equipped with video screens that can offer entertainment unless they have the capacity to be locked out visually from the driver.

The subject was already on their minds, Straus said. “Internally, at least on the House side, we were talking about this going back three years,” he said. “Should we tackle the other big source of distracted driving, or focus on at least getting Massachusetts over the line on cell phones.” They concluded the momentum was in their favor, Straus said, and moved to pass the bill before them.

The 2019 distracted driving law required hands-free use of phones and other devices, but like many states, left a carve-out at the time for screens that were manufactured into the car. 

Touch screens, despite their safety and operations downsides, remain popular in part because they are cheaper to manufacture than a series of analog buttons and knobs, according to Hagerty Media, a car enthusiast magazine offshoot of Hagerty automobile insurer. But there is also a strong consumer preference for what feel like modern technological amenities in cars. 

A finding from a study of prospective car buyers highlights the consumer paradox at issue. While 29 percent of consumers nationwide who intend to buy a new vehicle within the next three years want a center screen that’s 10 inches or larger – at least the size of a new iPad – 39 percent of those consumers want distracted or drowsy driver monitoring systems in their cars.

“This is, I would think, a classic problem where consumers do want things that maybe in a broad sense, are not in theirs or other people’s best interest,” Straus said. “I don’t think you’d find any car manufacturer or their spokespeople who would say they’re doing this because they want to distract people. I’m sure they’ll tell you, ‘we tell them to drive carefully.’” 

Cars are similar to other dangerous products, like alcohol. Straus said. Drive responsibly. Drink responsibly. 

“The risk is the product [itself] or well known,” he said. Unlike altering substances, where there is primarily risk to the individual unless they get into a car, he said, “everything about driving is about the wider community. That’s why we have traffic markings on the road.”  

Directional signals, seatbelts, air bags – “Those things all developed because operating a motor vehicle poses such substantial risks, ultimate risk to everyone else that you come in contact with,” he said. “So this issue, I think, is elevated to me above just, well, consumer demand and people like this. I don’t think that’s a sufficient answer.”

JENNIFER SMITH

FROM COMMONWEALTH

DiZoglio seeks AG’s help: State Auditor Diana DiZoglio asks Attorney General Andrea Campbell to litigate whether the auditor is legally entitled to conduct a “performance audit” of the Legislature. Campbell was noncommittal, but DiZoglio said her legal memo makes a solid case and undercuts the arguments of House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, who the auditor accused of twisting and weaponizing statutes and the Constitution against the people of Massachusetts. Read more.

Digital access: Gov. Maura Healey issues an executive order creating a Digital Accessibility and Equity Governance Board to oversee the establishment, adoption, and maintenance of digital accessibility standards on state platforms. Read more.

OPINION

Competitiveness challenge: Sen. Patricia Jehlen of Somerville offers some thoughts on where Massachusetts needs to be more competitive. Hint: It ain’t taxes. Read more.

 

FROM AROUND THE WEB

BEACON HILL

The Senate approved a $513 million spending bill, yet another item that needs to be reconciled with the House. (State House News Service)

Parents spoke out at a legislative hearing against ending religious exemptions for childhood vaccination mandates in Massachusetts schools, while doctors and other experts made the public health case for ending the exemptions. (Boston Globe)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

In Gloucester, City Councilor James O’Hara’s decision to work remotely from Florida is irking some constituents. (Gloucester Times)

Northampton is finally starting to see an uptick in new businesses, after the pandemic stalled openings and prompted closures in the business district. (MassLive)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Salem Hospital, part of Mass General Brigham system, unveils its new $16 million lobby named in honor of the recently retired president of the hospital. (Salem News)

Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing bills that would seek to clarify ‘crisis pregnancy center’ language used in advertisements, which they argue deliberately mislead people into thinking the clinics offer abortion care. (Worcester Telegram)

ELECTIONS

New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte continues her snipes at Massachusetts, this time saying deadly fentanyl is coming into the state from Lawrence and Lowell. Earlier, she said New Hampshire was one election away from becoming Massachusetts. (Eagle-Tribune)

The Globe asks whether the criminal charges Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara is facing following a June 30 car crash will cost her reelection. CommonWealth spotlighted Lara’s case yesterday – and the consternation it is causing progressives who rallied behind her policy stands but are now recoiling at her behavior. 

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Steve Wynn is expected to pay $10 million and sever nearly all ties to the casino industry to settle claims raised by Nevada gaming regulators concerning workplace sexual misconduct. As part of the deal, the 81-year-old Wynn will acknowledge no wrongdoing. (Associated Press)

EDUCATION

Massasoit Community College will launch a Black Studies degree starting in the fall semester, making it the first community college in the state to offer a program of its kind. (The Enterprise of Brockton)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The Conservation Law Foundation wants to block utilities from using ratepayer money for political lobbying, but the utilities say they are already in compliance with state rules that require money for lobbying and charitable giving to come out of company profits. (WBUR) 

The Wellfleet Select Board approved a dredging mitigation plan that will help restore a once productive shellfish area and save the town $14 million. (Cape Cod Times)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The City of New Bedford and its police union are in talks for a new contract that could include provisions for officers to wear body cameras, a practice now in place in about 20 percent of Massachusetts police departments. (New Bedford Light) 

MEDIA

Columbia Journalism Review asks whether one reason for Ron DeSantis’s flagging presidential campaign is his “strange, aggressive press strategy.”