Remember the good old days, when you bought a car because it got you from one place to another safely and without a monthly payment equal to your mortgage? If it had a sunroof, spoiler or other element of “cool” all the better, but for the most part your car was a mode of transportation rather than a source of entertainment.

The times they are a-changing, apparently, as evidenced by Nissan’s latest concept car, the Urge, which comes standard with an Xbox 360 built right into the dashboard. The game is viewed on a seven-inch LCD flip-down screen, and the pedals and steering wheel function as game controls.

I’m all for keeping the kiddies busy on long car trips, but it’s just my humble opinion that the driver should stick to keeping the vehicle in the proper lane and watching for hitchhikers standing too close to the white line.

Why does everyone feel a need to be entertained in the car, anyway? I remember road trips from my childhood, the entire family snug in the car without benefit of a Walkman with headphones, hand-held video games, or movies on portable DVD players. We read books, played license plate bingo, and slept. Sometimes we even talked to each other.

“How much longer?” Dad would hear every half hour or so, mingled with an occasional “I have to go to the bathroom!” or “Tell her to quit looking at me!” His need to fire back “I’m warning you, don’t make me stop this car!” while watching for exit signs and dodging slow moving RVs challenged his dexterity and kept his senses sharp.

Now we’re all wrapped up in our own electronic cocoons, iPods blasting in our ears and Palm Pilots keeping us connected to the latest happenings around the world while we watch “The Lion King” (again) on a 3” built-in video screen with separate headsets. No wonder the driver needs his own in-dash entertainment system. He’s lonely.

I suppose if my Dad could reach into the back seat to swat two kids warring over an “Archie and Jughead” comic book while simultaneously refolding a road map, balancing a cup of coffee and driving 65 miles an hour in a blinding snowstorm, today’s drivers certainly can play video games and still maintain proper road safety.

Although Microsoft explains that the in-dash Xbox game will only work while the car is in park, which is probably a good thing. What with all the balancing and swatting going on who has time play a video game, too? Certainly not New Yorkers. We aren’t allowed to talk on our cell phones while we’re driving. Apparently, that’s too distracting.


Writer and humor columnist Joanne Brokaw lives in western New York where she spends her days dreaming of things she’d like to do but probably never will - like swimming with dolphins, cleaning the attic, and someday overcoming the trauma of elementary school picture day.

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