Are touchscreens in cars dangerous?

> An analysis published in 2020 by the Transport Research Laboratory, a British organisation, found that touchscreens impaired a driver’s reaction time more than driving over the legal alcohol limit.

The question isn't whether they're dangerous, anymore.

The question is, when is safety legislation going to be passed that prevents them from being used for any routine adjustments while driving. I.e. windshield wipers, AC, change volume, skip to next track, etc.

Like it's fine if you still use them to input a GPS destination, change long-term car settings, connect a Bluetooth device, etc.

But we need to separate out the actions routinely used during driving and legislate physical controls. Why is there not legislation for this already?

I would support legislation which disables the touch screen when the passenger seat is unoccupied and the vehicle is in motion.

But I admit I’m being selfish: I don’t drive but share the road with people who do.

Yeah, the passenger seat is a problem. I've been very annoyed with my phone before for locking out when my car is in motion--even when I'm not the one handling the phone.

What phone doesn’t let you operate it while in a moving car? I’ve never heard of this.

Modern mazdas are one example - the touchscreen locks out above 5 miles per hour.

This is only feasible because the physical controls are excellent, and you can basically accomplish anything except typing an address or a song name without the touchscreen as input.

The newest CX-5, their best selling car, abandons the knob, if that’s what you’re referring to.

Supposedly most buyers in fact, did not like the knob.

This seems to follow other manufacturers that formerly had knob based controls but similarly abandoned them.