Massachusetts House moves to ban video recording behind the wheel

Alison Kuznitz

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JULY 11, 2024…..Massachusetts drivers could be banned from FaceTiming their friends and livestreaming onto social media platforms while they’re on the road under legislation the House quietly passed last week.

Lawmakers approved a distracting driving bill (H 4490) that prohibits people from recording, broadcasting, or taking images or videos of themselves while they are operating a motor vehicle. Drivers also could not use augmented reality or “mixed reality” devices, under a redrafted bill initially sponsored by Transportation Committee co-chair Rep. William Straus.

Straus was not made available for an interview. An aide to the Mattapoisett Democrat said “the bill reflects the Chair’s longstanding involvement in the issue of distracted driving which resulted in the 2019 passage of the Massachusetts hands free statute limiting the use of mobile phones by vehicle operators.”

Mark Schieldrop, spokesperson for AAA Northeast, said the latest House-approved bill closes a loophole in the existing hands-free law, in which drivers may have their hands on the wheel while also FaceTiming or recording an Instagram reel from their mounted phones.

“The problem is that it’s still a huge distraction, especially if you’re taking your eyes off the road and looking at a video screen,” Schieldrop said. “It’s still a cognitive distraction. Hands-free is not distraction-free.”

Motorists last year racked up nearly 54,000 citations for violating the state’s existing distracted driving law. Schieldrop, citing state data, said there were 1,037 distracting driving crashes last year, and the leading type involved a driver manually operating an electronic device. 

The bill also prohibits drivers from viewing videos, images or text — including on a monitor or screen installed in the cars, or worn as a headset or elsewhere on their  body — that is not related to them operating or navigating their vehicles.

There are exemptions for symbols or text that drivers use to active the hands-free mode on their mobile devices, that are related to equipment installed in their car by the manufacturer, or are tied to using audio or dispatch systems. The pending bill does not apply to video or images of passengers other than the driver.

Last session, the Transportation Committee did not advance a Sen. Jo Comerford bill that similarly looked to build off the 2019 distracting driving law by banning video recording or broadcasting while driving. Comerford, during a March 2022 hearing, said the existing “law isn’t explicit yet about recording videos while not actively handling a device while driving.”

“I think the intent of the hands-free law was good, but I think when you still see people engaging in video calls, clearly there’s a gap in the law if that’s technically not illegal,” Schieldrop said. “So I would say we’re certainly overdue to close that loophole just because it’s so unsafe.”

The bill is now pending before the Senate Rules Committee. A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka would not say if she supports the bill and intends to advance it, instead referring questions to Rules Committee Chair Sen. Joan Lovely.

Lovely was similarly noncommittal.

“As with all legislation passed by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate Rules Committee, the Committee reviews every piece of legislation as it processes (and) moves bills forward,” a Lovely aide said in a statement.

Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutts earlier this year lamented the distracted driving behaviors she witnesses every day.

“If you do a commute on any major roadway — I take Route 2 — you’re seeing this every single day,” she said. “You’re seeing the issues as they leave the lanes. It is really, I would say, an epidemic, and we are continuing to work with the registrar and public safety to figure out how to continue to address this.”