illegal to have video display in car?

i was just reading on epinions about a alpine in dash monitor and this guy in his review said that it is illegal in all 50 states to have a video source visible to the driver of any mtotor vehicle. is this true, can a cop ticket u for this even if you are just playign music with it?

It's against the law in all 50 states to have a video source visible to the driver of any motor vehicle. There is also an auxiliary Video output for another external
LCD unit, as well as 2 video inputs (which are disabled when driving).The Video Safety feature of the IVA-C800 requires that you do the following to watch video
sources and access certain menu items on the unit:
1. Wire everything according to the manual
2. Apply the footbrake and hold
3. Apply the parking brake and hold
4. You can now release the footbrake.
For as long as you leave the parking brake on, you'll be able to watch video.

what the hell is this. do all in dash monitors have this with them.:eek2:

Well.. it's illegal sorta, the cop can ticket you if he wants. It's because you are endangering other drivers by having video play. As in, you should be watching the road and not some DVD or something on your screen... that's why they will ticket you.

If the screen is say, behind the driver.. like in Vans and such... then it's legal. Just has to be out of the field of view of the driver.

Yeah... video screens can not be viewable to the driver while driving the vehicle. It is a distraction and is against the law. The Alpine screen you are talking about CAN be used without the parking brake up... but the manual and the law says you can't. By law, the screens need to be hooked up to the parking brake... but it's not necessary to operate the screens.

If you wanna watch the screen while driving... okay... that's your decision. But think of the consequences, kay? Oh yeah... if you ever watched the Diary of Ludicris on MTV you would have seen that he drives while watching a tv in his steering wheel... but think... he's rich... he can pay the hefty fine.

Then why some cars(like the Lexus,New Acura SUV etc..) have navigation sistems. it is the same thing. A video display for the driver to see a map and where he's heading. It would be illegal too but these cars comes out of factory with it.
There's even the New TOYOYTA Highlander that comes with a Camera in the rear spoiler and it video records the back and you can see it on an screen in your dash, and it comes out like that out of the factory.(I saw this at a dealership I went in Jamaica)

Originally posted by fjt
Then why some cars(like the Lexus,New Acura SUV etc..) have navigation sistems. it is the same thing. A video display for the driver to see a map and where he's heading. It would be illegal too but these cars comes out of factory with it.
There's even the New TOYOYTA Highlander that comes with a Camera in the rear spoiler and it video records the back and you can see it on an screen in your dash, and it comes out like that out of the factory.(I saw this at a dealership I went in Jamaica)

because the legal system is screwed up. the navigation systems have voices on them that tell you where to go.. and the thinking is that you are supposed to pull off the road and get your directions and all that. just like you're supposed to pull off the road and use you're cell phone or whatever. "oh, navigation systems would be very helpful in vehicles... i don't see a problem with them" thats basically how the law is

The Nav systems aren't any more distracting than trying to read a map while driving, trying to talk on the phone while driving, messing with the radio while driving...and for the toyota highlander with video cam, it shows you the back of the car kinda like a rear view mirror right? Can't be any more distracting than looking into the rear view mirror.

Trying to watch a dvd in your car while driving is just plain dumbass, not to mention dangerous and down right impossible.

Turn off the movies/games while driving folks.

Originally posted by DownTheHatch
The Nav systems aren't any more distracting than trying to read a map while driving, trying to talk on the phone while driving, messing with the radio while driving...and for the toyota highlander with video cam, it shows you the back of the car kinda like a rear view mirror right? Can't be any more distracting than looking into the rear view mirror.

Trying to watch a dvd in your car while driving is just plain dumbass, not to mention dangerous and down right impossible.

Turn off the movies/games while driving folks.

Exactly

the way i see it if i ever get pulled over by a cop for some other reason then i would just close the screen. it is that simple not to get caught.right:rolleyes:

also true

I would just mount the screen down below the view of outside drivers, like custom mounted by the shifter.