Smart car dashboards raise safety issues.

Reuters (7/7, McBride, Lienert) reports on new car dashboard screens that emulate smart phones, allowing access to social media in some instances and the appeal they have for drivers and automakers. “I think they (the screens) raise serious public safety questions,” said former California lawmaker Joe Simitian, adding, “From a legislative standpoint, this is going to be something legislators struggle with for years to come.” David Strayer, a professor of cognition and neural science at the University of Utah, said, “You can’t be looking at a screen and be looking at the road at the same time.” The NHTSA’s guidelines against driver-distraction by dashboard displays in moving cars warn against ones that display photographs or moving images, but the recommendations are voluntary.