History Main / DriverFacesPassenger

* In ''Series/WhiteCollar'', Peter had a tendency to lecture Neal while driving and take his eyes off the road, leading to several almost crashes.

This trope is nearly ubiquitous, so use this section to list {{subver|tedTrope}}sions and {{lampshade hanging}}s. The reason it is so ubiquitous is because almost never is an actor ''actually'' driving and acting at the same time. The vehicle is either on a trailer or being towed behind the camera car - or the actors are in a car set in a studio.

Remember that TropesAreTools and this one is quite often a [[TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste deliberate portrayal of bad driving]] -- either establishing that a character DrivesLikeCrazy, being {{invoked|Trope}} by the driver to freak out the passengers (like a one-car GameOfChicken), or setting up a SurpriseCarCrash as SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome with a bang. (Then again, the fact that there are so many things it can signify just makes the trope's unintentional appearances that much more frustrating and anticlimactic...)

Not to be confused with DrivingADesk, which is about visual effects.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood]]'':

* In ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'', Chiito ends up making this mistake when Yuuri gets on her nerves, resulting in her driving into something while [[HypocriticalHumor lecturing Yuuri about how she needs to keep her eyes on the road]].

* Parodied in ''Film/{{Amelie}}'': One of the things Amelie does not like are drivers in American films who don't watch the road. Cut to a scene from the American film ''Father's Little Dividend'' where the actor drives a desk and looks at his passenger 99% of the time. In the DVD director's commentary, Jean-Pierre Jeunet comments on how difficult it is to find a clip exhibiting this trope when you're specifically looking for one.[[note]]Well, there was no TV-Tropes yet in 2000[[/note]]

* Seann William Scott plays this one for laughs in ''Film/TheDukesOfHazzard'' movie.
* Lloyd drives a limo like this in ''Film/DumbAndDumber'' while telling his passenger how dangerous drivers are today. At one point, we hear tires screeching, and shortly afterwards there's an explosion behind the car. Lloyd doesn't notice. Oh, and then he comments on all the bad drivers out there.
* Creator/HaroldLloyd takes the first example to a ridiculous extreme in his silent 1928 comedy ''Film/{{Speedy}}''. Playing a New York City cab driver, he picks up none other than Creator/BabeRuth, and is so starstruck that he repeatedly turns around to chat with his hero... while driving through heavy Midtown traffic at a dizzyingly fast speed, much to Ruth's horror.
* Subverted in ''Film/TheBlindSide''. It looks like the trope is played straight at first, but then SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs with a car accident.
* In ''[[Film/Parasite2019 Parasite]]'' Ki-taek starts doing this as he gets comfortable in his role as driver. Mr. Park [[LampshadeHanging reprimands him]] to keep his eyes on the road.
* This happens for a full 20 seconds at the end of ''Film/EverythingIsIlluminated''.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheDescent'', in which [[spoiler:Sarah's husband holds her gaze for a few seconds too long, drifts into the oncoming lane and crashes into a car coming the other way.]]
* The very concept of Driver Faces Passenger is parodied in ''Film/LastActionHero'', where Jack Slater turns around completely in his seat so that he is almost lying in the back seat and drives the car entirely with his feet, all so he can fire his gun more accurately backwards. He claims that you just need a lot of practice in a low traffic area.
* Played with in the Italian comedy ''Film/MadlyInLove'' (1981): Adriano Celentano plays a bus driver who falls in love with his passenger, and looks into her face all the time instead of the road. When she asks him how does he drive, he answers that he sees the road through the reflection in her eyes, and suggests her to close them. Sure enough, as soon as she closes them, he crashes into another car.
* Portrayed realistically in ''Film/MysteryTeam''. Though Leroy constantly turns around to yell at the protagonists, Duncan constantly requests that he focuses on the road. This later turns out to be good advice.

* Plot point in ''Film/{{Triangle}}'', where the heroine is distracted by her son in the backseat, she turns around for several seconds without looking ahead and crashes into an oncoming truck.

* Subverted in ''Film/HorribleBosses''. While driving, [[Creator/JasonBateman Nick]] turns around to slap [[Creator/JasonSudeikis Kurt]] several times, but [[Creator/CharlieDay Dale]], sitting next to Nick, holds the wheel and makes sure nothing bad happens.
* ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': this is the cause of the car accident that kills Elinore Stone (who was at the wheel) and cripples Victor (who later get a cybernetic body courtesy of a Mother Box and becomes Cyborg) when they're having an argument about Vic's father Silas [[DaddyDidntShow not having time to come support him]] at his football match.
* In ''[[Film/TheChase1994 The Chase]]'', Jack Hammond didn't have to turn to face his passenger...because she crawled into his lap and proceeded to have sex with him at 80 miles per hour with the police in hot pursuit.

* Used in ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'' by Edward especially, who stares at Bella for long periods while driving at excessive speed. And while vampires in the series have superhuman senses and reaction speeds, Bella's clunky car does not, meaning that even when he does use his senses it's still incredibly dangerous.

* This caused Dick and Mary to crash once on ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun''.
* RealLife: Ken and Curt, from the fourth season of ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'', have this cited as among their worst problems. And Scott from Season Six was often called "Hollywood" as an insult by his nominator, who eventually cancelled Scott's insurance. In other words, Scott was kicked off the show by his own nominator--in the ''second episode'', no less! A distracted driving demonstration course has featured in most seasons from Two on.

* TruthInTelevision: During the Alfa Romeo Challenge on ''Series/TopGear'', Jeremy Clarkson demonstrates just how loose the steering is on Hammond's 2.0 Spyder, wiggling the wheel 30 degrees each way, and the front wheels shown on camera are not moving at all. He then Lampshades it by saying: "You can drive this car through an [[EagleLand American]] movie!"

** In "The Witch in the Wardrobe", this trope is subverted when Hodgins looks at Angela's camera while driving and ends up swerving into the next lane.
* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': Lampshaded. Peter had a tendency to lecture Neal while driving and take his eyes off the road, leading to several almost crashes.
* ''Series/TheComeback,'' starring Lisa Kudrow. Kudrow's character Valerie Cherish is driving along, and then looks in the backseat to talk to her director, Jane, only to have Jane say, "Could you please keep your eyes on the road." Mostly because Jane was in the car during Valerie's previous foray into Driver Faces Passenger, which ended in a car wreck.
* Shows up in an AR exhibit in an episode of ''Series/RedDwarf''. Lister and Cat are shown robotically jerking Starbug's steering yoke hard to the left, then shoving it forward. Left, forward. That'd get you in a wreck, even on an oval track.
* ''Series/HawaiiFive0'': Steve [=McGarrett=] is especially bad about it, looking at his passenger all the time while driving, and even once turning around to face Danno in the backseat.
* Averted in the early seasons of ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. Numerous episodes involve something bad happening the moment someone takes their eyes off the road. Lex first encounters Clark by driving into him.
* Happens in a ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode, while Jerry and Kramer are in an ambulance taking George to the hospital. The two paramedics get out to have a fight and afterwards, the remaining one is arguing with Jerry and Kramer as they yell at him for leaving the other man in the street. When he threatens to fight with ''them'', they respond by screaming at him to watch the road. He continues to scream...and we cut to black as we hear the sound of a crash. The closing credits play over the three of them in the hospital with bruises and neck braces.

* DeconstructedTrope in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' during a cutscene, where an NPC does this and nearly crashes a truck into a cow.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Roundabout}}'' where Georgio only turns to face their passengers before the driving begins and they never look to their passengers while driving.

** Diane, on the other hand [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2120 turns to face Charlotte]] when given shocking information, namely that the superheroine Cheerleadra might actually be Elliot Dunkel, the guy who she has been crushing on for a while. Nanase directs her back to the road in time to avert a near-crash.

* In ''Webcomic/RealLifeComics'', the Main/AuthorAvatar does this [[https://reallifecomics.com/comic.php?comic=title-45 in an early strip]].

* In ''Webcomic/MenageA3'', Zii's fangirl found [[http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/make_it_in_one_piece the safest way]] to do it.

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' does this rather too often when driving the Mark III and talking to Penfold in the passenger seat. And DM only has one eye to keep on the road/sky!

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' had a variation on this theme. Johnny's driving along, trying to talk to the pretty girl in the car next to his, and suddenly crashes into a guardrail.

* Used in the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series by Edward especially, who stares at Bella for long periods while driving at excessive speed. And while vampires in the series have superhuman senses and reaction speeds, Bella's clunky car does not, meaning that even when he does use his senses it's still incredibly dangerous.

In RealLife, taking your focus off the road for even the duration of an extended sneezing fit or to answer a phone call or text or try to control misbehaving children in the backseat is a ''major'' cause of serious and fatal (and not-serious as well) accidents, as are other forms of "distracted driving". In fact, distracted driving is even ''more'' likely to actually cause an accident than drunk driving below 0.12 with the drunk focused on the road, because to a certain degree of intoxication, a drunk can ''actually see'' what is going on around them, if not otherwise distracted, and because distracted driving is far, far more common than drunk driving. If you must do something that will take your full visual focus off the road for more than a few seconds, '''[[SincerityMode pull over]].'''

Remember that TropesAreTools and this one is quite often a [[TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste deliberate portrayal of bad driving]] -- either establishing that a character DrivesLikeCrazy, being {{invoked|Trope}} by the driver to freak out the passengers (like a one-car GameOfChicken), or setting up a SurpriseCarCrash as RealityEnsues with a bang. (Then again, the fact that there are so many things it can signify just makes the trope's unintentional appearances that much more frustrating and anticlimactic...)

Remember that TropesAreTools and this one is quite often a [[TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste deliberate portrayal of bad driving]] -- either establishing that a character DrivesLikeCrazy, being {{invoked|Trope}} by the driver to freak out the passengers (like a one-car GameOfChicken), or setting up a SurpriseCarCrash as RealityEnsues with a bang.

Compare to DrivesLikeCrazy. Not to be confused with DrivingADesk, which is about visual effects.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' Dean and Sam often talk whilst driving, wherein Dean will look at Sam whilst he talks for very long periods of time. There has only been one crash, however, whilst Sam was driving and talking to John, and the crash was due less to his wandering attention and more to [[spoiler:the demon possessing a semi driver who deliberately rammed the Impala]].

* The ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "TheOneWith Joey's Big Break" has a moment where, while Joey and Chandler are travelling to Las Vegas for the filming of Joey's movie, Joey mentions he's getting tired and that maybe Chandler should drive. Chandler tells him that they've only been driving for half an hour (and hadn't even left Manhattan), and that Joey hadn't looked at the road once. Joey says, "Don't worry, it's out there," looks at the road, swerves, and another car honks at him.

* Webcomic/SluggyFreelance: In the second [[Literature/HarryPotter Torg Potter]] storyline, Weaselo is too busy showing pictures to Torg, prompting Torg to yell "Eyes on the road." Despite them being in a flying car, this is still relevant.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'': Vanessa Fisk is shown facing her son Richard while driving, as she's trying to comfort him following their walking in on [[ComicBook/TheKingpin her husband/his father]] trying to kill Spider-Man. Unfortunately, [[RealityEnsues this means she doesn't see the oncoming car that kills both her and Richard]].

* Subverted in ''Film/TheBlindSide''. It looks like the trope is played straight at first, but then RealityEnsues with a car accident.

* In the fifties driving safety short ''Film/LastClearChance,'' one of the characters and his girlfriend [[TooDumbToLive turn around to wave at his brother while continuing to drive forward]]. RealityEnsues when they reach the train tracks.

* Played with in the Italian comedy ''Madly in Love'' (1981): Adriano Celentano plays a bus driver who falls in love with his passenger, and looks into her face all the time instead of the road. When she asks him how does he drive, he answers that he sees the road through the reflection in her eyes, and suggests her to close them. Sure enough, as soon as she closes them, he crashes into another car.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' Dean and Sam often talk whilst driving, wherein Dean will look at Sam whilst he talks for very long periods of time. There has only been one crash, however, whilst Sam was driving and talking to John.

* Happens in a ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode, while Jerry and Kramer are in an ambulance taking George to the hospital. The two paramedics get out to have a fight and afterwards, the remaining one is arguing with Jerry and Kramer as they yell at him for leaving the man in the street. When the man threatens to fight with ''them'', they respond by screaming at him to watch the road. He continues to scream...and we cut to black as we hear the sound of a crash. The closing credits play over the three of them in the hospital with bruises and neck braces.

* Happens in a ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', while Jerry and Kramer are in an ambulance taking George to the hospital. The two paramedics get out to have a fight and afterwards, the remaining one is arguing with Jerry and Kramer as they yell at him for leaving the man in the street. When the man threatens to fight with ''them'', they respond by screaming at him to watch the road. He continues to scream...and we cut to black as we hear the sound of a crash. The closing credits play over the three of them in the hospital with bruises and neck braces.

* Subverted in ''Film/HorribleBosses''. While driving, [[Creator/JasonBateman Nick]] turns around to slap [[Creator/JasonSudekis Kurt]] several times, but [[Creator/CharleyDay Dale]], sitting next to Nick, holds the wheel and makes sure nothing bad happens.

* Creator/HaroldLloyd takes the first example to a ridiculous extreme in his silent 1928 comedy ''Film/{{Speedy}}''. Playing a NYC cabdriver, he picks up none other than [[TheCameo Babe Ruth]], and is so starstruck that he repeatedly turns around to chat with his hero... while driving through heavy Midtown traffic at a dizzyingly fast speed, much to Ruth's horror.

* ''Film/XXx'': When he drives Senator Hotchkiss's Corvette, Xander speaks into several cameras facing almost every direction ''except'' forwards. He's planning to dump the (stolen) car in a ravine for his livestream ''anyway'', but he's supposed to be a thrill-seeker not a DeathSeeker.

* In italian comedy ''Madly in Love'' (1981) this trope is played with. Adriano Celentano plays a bus driver who falls in love with his passenger, and looks into her face all the time instead of the road. When she asks him how does he drive, he answers that he sees the road through the reflection in her eyes, and suggests her to close them. Sure enough, as soon as she closes them, he crashes into another car.

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Walter Denton usually drives Miss Brooks to school. As a reckless sixteen year old driver, he, of course, looks at Miss Brooks instead of looking at the road. On one occasion, Miss Brooks had to grab the wheel and steer in order to prevent an accident.

* The ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "TheOneWith Joey's Big Break" has a moment where, while Joey and Chandler are travelling to Las Vegas for filming of Joey's movie, Joey mentions he's getting tired and that maybe Chandler should drive. Chandler tells him that they've only been driving for half an hour (and hadn't even left Manhattan), and that Joey hadn't looked at the road once. Joey says, "Don't worry, it's out there," looks at the road, swerves, and another car honks at him.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': After Karen shoots her drug-dealing boyfriend Todd to stop him from beating her brother Kevin with a tire iron (after Kevin decided to burn down Todd's trailer and pick a fight with him), she gets Kevin in the car and drives off. She's high, strung out, and angry at Kevin for choosing to confront Todd in attempt to get him away from Karen. The whole time, Karen keeps looking at Kevin, who is bleeding from where Todd punched him. Unfortunately, she keeps her eyes off the road too long to realize she's drifting out of her lane until it's too late. The car hits the guardrail of a small bridge and is launched airborne, flipping several times before coming to rest on its roof. Karen survives the accident with minor cuts and scrapes, but Kevin (who wasn't wearing a seatbelt) breaks his neck and is killed instantly.

** Diane, on the other hand [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2120 turns to face Charlotte]] when given shocking information, namely that the superheroine Cheerleadra might actually be Elliot Dunkel, the guy who she has been crushing on for a while. Nanase directs her back to the road in time to avert a near crash.

* In ''Webcomic/{{MenageA3}}'', Zii's fangirl found [[http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/make_it_in_one_piece the safest way]] to do it.

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' does this rather too often when driving the Mark III and talking to Penfold in the passanger seat. And DM only has one eye to keep on the road/sky!

* Parodied in ''Film/{{Amelie}}'': One of the things Amelie does not like are drivers in American films who don't watch the road. Cut to a scene from the American film ''Father's Little Dividend'' where the actor drives a desk and looks at his passenger 99% of the time. In the DVD director's commentary, Jean-Pierre Jeunet comments on how difficult it is to find a clip exhibiting this trope when you're specifically looking for one.