Watch out! LCD screens on wheels could kill
By Imran Naeem Ahmad
ISLAMABAD: As the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) await the Law Ministry’s notification of a legislation banning the use of cellphones, making seat belts mandatory and barring high beams at night, a problem of another kind has slowly taken root.
The use of LCD screens installed on dashboard of vehicles has increased in the past few years which like the rampant practice of cellphones usage, endangers not only the lives of the persons behind the wheel but also those of road users.
Surely, the technological advancements of this era are welcome but when such gadgets begin to put lives in danger, it calls for attention of the authorities, yet unfortunately nothing concrete has been done, Daily Times has learnt.
The ITP officials said that they planned to go step by step in cracking down on such dangerous practices on road. “The introduction of seat belt and cellphone law is going to be a major step in ensuring road safety and other things would eventually follow,” said a spokesman for the ITP.
Youngsters are often guilty of using LCD screens and are often seen watching songs on them while on road which only means an accident waiting to happen. “When an accident happens, it takes just a split second, so it has to be understood how important road safety is,” said the spokesman.
Most cars are fitted with at times three or more screens for comfortable viewing of everyone on board, especially those sitting in the rear. While backseat viewing might not be harmful, it in fact is the screen on the dashboard that looks ominous.
Although it is not clear if any accidents have occurred because of this extremely distracting electronic device, ITP officials point out that all they could do at his point of time was to ask motorists to avoid using such screens.
A price of LCD screen ranges from Rs 3000 to Rs 10,000 and even more if one wanted to go for a really top of the line thing. There are quite a variety of brands available in the market –from Japanese to Korean and from Malaysian to Chinese makes.
An official at one of the leading car dealerships said that some of the new Japanese-made vehicles had these screens factory-fitted but they were installed in a manner that the driver couldn’t see them. “Other cars have options for this addition to be made later,” said one official.
It is indeed a pity that while several countries have for long had laws in force banning the use of cell phones and making seat belts compulsory, no such legislation currently exists in Pakistan. Although now the ITP claims that the seat belt, cellphone and high beam law would be notified soon, it does bring into question what took the authorities so long.
ITP officials said that a summary of the proposed law was put up with the Ministry of Interior months ago but things got delayed because of the political developments.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C04%5C29%5Cstory_29-4-2008_pg11_4