Means for reducing driver distraction over short-range vehicle communication

In at least one embodiment, an apparatus is provided which includes a vehicle controller. The vehicle controller is programmed to receive a signal indicating a viewing direction of a driver, and a display of a personal communication device (PCD) sends, in response to the fact that the driver's viewing direction turned away for a period of a road is that exceeds an associated threshold time to indicate that the driver is distracted.