HB 1181, introduced by Rep. Blanton, would prohibit a person from operating a motor vehicle with a video monitor, computer, or device capable of providing a visual display is somewhere in the motor vehicle that can be seen by the driver. The bill then proceeds to exempt cell phones and PDAs being used for voice communication, displays of radio controls, dashboard display information, navigation information, maps, the area surrounding the vehicle, or of the people in the back seat.

The exceptions pretty much swallow the rule here. Or, at least, they legitimize so many other distractions that one has to wonder whether there is any true guiding principal to the distractions that are banned. At some point, you just have to fall back to the general principle, “drive with care” and hold the driver civilly liable for damages caused because he or she wasn’t doing so.