Motor vehicles not to be equipped with television within view of driver; viewing motion pictures or similar displays while driving
Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-1077
in effectA. No motor vehicle registered in the Commonwealth shall be equipped with, nor shall there be used therein, a television receiver when the moving images are visible to the driver while the vehicle is in motion. The operator of a motor vehicle that is not required to be registered in the Commonwealth shall not operate a television receiver that violates the provisions of this section while driving in the Commonwealth.
The prohibitions contained in this subsection shall not, however, include:
1. Electronic displays used in conjunction with vehicle navigation and mapping systems, or as part of a digital dispatch system;
2. Closed circuit video monitors designed to operate only in conjunction with dedicated video cameras and used in rear-view systems on trucks, motor homes, and other motor vehicles;
3. Television receivers or monitors used in government-owned vehicles by law-enforcement officers and employees of the Department of Transportation in the course of their official duties;
4. Visual displays used to enhance or supplement the driver's view forward, behind, or to the sides of a motor vehicle for the purpose of maneuvering the vehicle;
5. A vehicle information display;
6. A visual display used to enhance or supplement a driver's view of vehicle occupants;
7. Television-type receiving equipment used exclusively for safety or traffic engineering information; or
8. A television receiver, video monitor, television or video screen, or any other similar means of visually displaying a moving image, if that equipment is factory-installed and has an interlock device that, when the motor vehicle operator is performing one or more of the driving tasks, disables the equipment so that such moving images are not visible to the motor vehicle operator except as a visual display described in subdivisions 1 through 7. For the purposes of this subdivision, "driving task" means all of the real-time functions required to operate a vehicle in on-road traffic, excluding the selection of destinations and waypoints, and including steering, turning, lane keeping and lane changing, accelerating, and decelerating.
B. Except for displays explicitly authorized in subsection A, no driver of any motor vehicle shall view any motion picture or similar video display while driving.
Code 1950, § 46-219.1; 1950, p. 882; 1958, c. 541, § 46.1-202; 1989, c. 727; 1994, c. 117 ; 2005, cc. 210 , 913 ; 2007, c. 110 ; 2011, c. 275 ; 2016, cc. 302 , 707 .
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/46.2-1077/Fetched: 10/16/2026