• by November 30, 2005

LET IT ROLL, BABY, ROLL -- Ordinarily, when we think of media vehicles we think of media that are vehicles for delivering advertising or programming content. Increasingly, they are motorized vehicles - the kind people drive. In fact, we've officially reached the point where in-car entertainment and navigation systems have become so ubiquitous that they've also become a visual distraction and potential road hazard. This has prompted the Consumer Electronics Association to break a new national ad campaign promoting the safe use of video in motor vehicles. And the trade group's concerns aren't limited simply to the kind of rear-seat video entertainment systems - TVs, VCRs and DVD players - intended for passengers, but also the increasing number of dashboard mounted electronics such as GPS navigation systems. The CEA doesn't explicitly reference portable hand-held devices such as video-enabled iPods, cell phones, and PSPs, but we suspect they're an equal threat to public safety when used behind the wheel.

To help drivers avoid video induced collisions, the CEA has come up with a simple set of guidelines and an easy acronym - C-A-R - to remember them by:

* Consult your owner's manual for proper use.
* Assure systems are installed by Mobile Electronics Certified Professionals.
* Remember to drive safely and let your passengers be entertained.

We have a far more fundamental, and ultimately more practical guideline, and it comes from Jim Morrison and The Doors: "Keep your eyes on the road, your hands up on the wheel."

Okay, so maybe CARK isn't all that catchy, but no one said we were gifted PSA copywriters? What we do know is that the distractive nature of ambulatory media isn't anything new. It's always been an issue for road safety and is the reason why the National Highway Safety Administration conducts periodic studies on the dangers of certain forms of outdoor media. It's also the reason why the out-of-home industry is prohibited from running full-motion video content on its burgeoning network of outdoor digital billboards. Of course, there are other distracting media that apparently are perfectly acceptable and don't require an owner's manual for proper use. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a car sold in America, or most any part of the world that didn't have at least one electronic media device factory-installed. Yeah, we mean the radio. Or increasingly, the satellite radio tuner. So it's okay to have your ears turned to, say Jim Morrison blaring from your car's audio speakers, but it's not okay to watch Val Kilmer portraying him in Oliver Stone's movie, "The Doors."