Good Or Bad? California Makes Phone Based GPS Apps Illegal To Use While Driving

In California, drivers can now be pulled over for using their GPS while driving. Extending the state’s current ban on texting while driving, an appellate court in California v. Spriggs argued that the ”distraction would be present whether the wireless telephone was being used as a telephone, a GPS navigator a clock or a device for sending and receiving text messages and emails.”

So-called “distracted driving” laws have a mixed history of efficacy. In 2010, a study in the American Journal of Public Health found that “Any reduction in accidents following texting bans is short-lived, however, with accidents returning to near former levels within a few months.”

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JRobUSC - 4/8/2013 5:03:02 PM

+2 Boost

That is asinine. So California legislators think someone driving while listening to a GPS system speak the turn by turn directions is more distracted than someone driving around with their neck craned skyward trying to read the street signs and figure out where they're going without the navigation system? We've all been that guy. And that guy is definitely more distracted than the guy using his GPS. If listening to someone tell you which way to turn is now an illegal distraction, are you no longer allowed to speak to passengers while driving? Are parents not allowed to cart their kids around in the backseat? What about listening to the radio and singing along? I'll guarantee those folks are more distracted than the guy listening to his GPS tell him to "turn right at the next intersection".

Sciros - 4/9/2013 1:51:23 AM

+2 Boost

Bunch of drooling imbeciles. Simple as that. Plug in the phone and let it guide you the way any built-in, overpriced, piece of shit system does, except it might actually continue to work after 4 years. Whoever presented this at the appelate court isn't fit to wipe their ass unaided let alone drive legislation. And the comments on that article are yet further proof that stupidity of this order is rampant and should be entirely unsurprising.