Mrs. Pudenda Fallopini wrote:

Lina Morgan wrote:

J Kozlowski wrote:

XXX-DVDs a new hazard for drivers

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- Andrea Carlton hadn't planned on telling her
daughter about the birds and bees until she was 8 or 9. But that changed
the night 4-year-old Catherine spotted a porno movie flickering on a screen
in a minivan nearby.

"Just like there's no windows in a strip club, you shouldn't be able to see
inside windows in a car when they're watching X-rated movies," said
Carlton, a 26-year-old from Gurnee, Illinois.

More and more Americans are buying vehicles with DVD players, usually to
keep the kids entertained. But an increasing number of other people on the
road are catching a glimpse through the windows of more than just "Finding
Nemo" and "SpongeBob SquarePants."

Depending on where they are driving or parked, motorists could face fines
and even jail time for screening X-rated stuff. But where the law may not
be clear, some are calling for tighter regulation.

"Residents should not be subjected to those obscenities," said Flint City
Councilwoman Carolyn Sims, who is examining whether an ordinance packing a
$500 fine is needed. "They do have a right to have peace and tranquility
and not to have this exposure to sex in their face."

A driver in Schenectady, New York, was arrested last month after rolling
past police with a DVD titled "Chocolate Foam" playing on the
passenger-side sun visor in his Mercedes-Benz, authorities said. The movie
also was rolling on screens set into the car's headrests.

The driver was accused of breaking state laws prohibiting watching TV while
driving, as well as another law making it illegal to exhibit sexually
explicit material in a public place.

"The detective had a clear view of what was playing through the window.
Anyone walking by on the street could have seen it," Schenectady police Lt.
Peter Frisoni Jr. said of the nighttime traffic stop. "If he had dark,
tinted windows where you couldn't see in, that wouldn't be a public
display."

As for Carlton, she was driving in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove with
her daughter when Catherine glimpsed the sexually explicit movie. The
experience last fall upset the girl and angered Carlton.

Carlton and her husband sat down with Catherine and offered the best
explanation they could. Since then, Carlton has spotted other motorists
with explicit movies playing, including a couple watching from the back
seat of their car in a store parking lot.

"You're not allowed to have sex in your car, so why are you allowed to
watch it?" Carlton asked.

Most states, including Michigan, have laws that make it illegal to watch TV
while driving. Laws governing the exhibition of pornography vary by state,
but experts say they could be applied to drivers as well.

"I think those restrictions would apply if the content is located in a
vehicle," said Jeff Matsuura, director of the law and technology program at
the University of Dayton. "You have effectively moved beyond the privacy of
your own home."

During the day, it is often difficult to see what is playing inside another
vehicle. But at night, the screens are easily visible from a passing car or
a vehicle stopped alongside at a traffic light. The screens are also
getting bigger.

In Flint, Sims took up the issue after hearing from a woman who was driving
with her 5-year-old when she spotted porn playing on a vehicle's 13-inch TV
screen. A police officer who happened to see the display pulled over the
driver, Sims said, but let him off with a warning.

To Sims, a 23-year police veteran who retired in 2001, playing an explicit
movie in view of other motorists or pedestrians is akin to flashing or
having sex in a public place.

But Michigan State Police, who have not had any cases of in-car porn, say
playing an X-rated movie might not be easy to prosecute unless it can be
proved that the motorist intended for others to see it.

Let me tell you right now, if I ever see something like that on the road I
am calling 911 on the spot. I do not want my children exposed to that kind
of filth and I will do everything in my power to make sure that driver is
punished. Porn is responsible for a lot of the troubles this country is
facing right now.

gO ahead an try it, the cops will probably slap the cuffs on your for
calling 911 and off to jail you go. And you know what happens to frigid
little miss Christianity like you in jail don't you.

You are really, really sick. You should be in a mental hospital. Or in
jail, that seems to get your fantasies going.