Q: I remember back in the day it was illegal to drive while wearing headphones. But has the law changed with the times of Bluetooth? I see a lot of drivers wearing earbuds.
A: Washington’s headphone law is a great example of how technology influences traffic laws. And it started over 75 years ago, so let’s make this a historical review.
In 1946 an estimated 8000 homes in the US had a television. Three years later, there were over four million televisions in the US. In 1948, TV manufacturers began demonstrating in-car installations. What do TVs have to do with Washington’s headphone law? It started in 1949 as a prohibition against installing a television in the front of a vehicle or anywhere that a driver could see it.
It wasn’t until 1977 that the law added a paragraph to prohibit wearing headphones while driving if they muffle or exclude other sounds. I was a kid in 1977, and headphones were enormous back then, at least on my kid-sized head, and they blocked out everything. Maybe some enthusiasts of audio history can prove me wrong, but I’m guessing that if you were wearing headphones, it was assumed that they muffled and excluded other sounds.
Ten years later, the law made an exception to the headphone prohibition for drivers of emergency vehicles. That coincided with new headset technology that allowed the driver of a fire truck to stay in communication with firefighters riding in the back of the vehicle.
The next year the law added another exception for students and instructors in a motorcycle training program so that motorcycle instructors could have immediate communication with their students.
In 1991 another exception was added. Motorcyclists could wear a helmet with built-in headsets or earphones, as long as they were approved by the Washington State Patrol.
Five years later the law added another exception that allowed law enforcement agencies to install mobile computers in their cars and permitted drivers to use hands-free communications devices. The Washington Administrative Code clarified that a driver using a communications device could only have an earpiece in one ear.
By 2011, the law had to change again to permit back-up camera screens. Legislators eliminated the part about screens being installed forward of the driver’s seat and added that the law doesn’t apply to backup cameras.
Three years ago, the part about televisions and screens was completely cut from the law. Why? I’m guessing we’re to the point where high-tech vehicles have so many screens that the law prohibiting them no longer made sense.
That doesn’t mean you can watch TV while you drive. Our distracted driving law prohibits “watching video on a personal electronic device.” You might argue that there’s a loophole. A “personal electronic device” is defined, in part, as portable. Would that make watching an in-dash television legal? The Washington State Patrol doesn’t think so, and for sure it’s a bad idea.
That gets to my main point. The law follows technology, responding to the risks it presents. There’s always going to be a lag between unsafe technologies and the laws that prohibit them. Texting and driving was dangerous before we wrote a law about it.
Unlike my 1970s headphones, today you can get earbuds that enhance the outside sounds instead of muffle them. As I understand our current law, you could use them to listen to the radio or stream a podcast, but for a hands-free call you’d have to take out one earbud. The smart decision though, based on the evidence, would be to wait until you’re stopped to make or answer that call.
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