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Google Glass User Fights Speeding Ticket, Saying She's Defending the Future

Nerval's Lobster writes "A California software developer dubbed an explorer by Google and a scofflaw by the California Highway Patrol appeared in court to fight over the purpose and usage of wearable electronics. Cecilia Abadie denies she was doing 80 mph in a 65 mph zone when she was pulled over by the CHP Oct. 29 of last year, but proudly admits wearing her early edition of Google's Google Glass augmented-reality goggles. She just doesn't agree with the CHP's contention that Google Glass is a television. Abadie, who works at virtual-reality sports software developer Full Swing Golf and was one of the first 'explorers' chosen by Google as early testers of Google Glass before they were released, wears the goggles for as long as 12 hours per day, using them both as a way to pull email, driving directions and other information into her view and to push pictures, Tweets, updates and other information out to professional and social networks in a process she describes as 'living in transparency.' The California Highway Patrol, unfortunately for Abadie, considered wearing Google Glass to be the same as watching television while driving. One of the two citations Abadie was given was for speeding; the other was for 'driving with a monitor visible in violation of California Vehicle Code 27602.' Fighting that perception in court is 'a big responsibility for me and also for the judge who is going to interpret a very old law compared with how fast technology is changing,' Abadie told the Associated Press for a Jan. 16 story." A court commissioner in San Diego dismissed the Google Glass ticket, saying he could find no evidence that the device was in use while Abadie was driving.

63 of 464 comments (clear)

  1. Reinforcing the term by jmhobrien · · Score: 5, Funny

    glasshole.

    --
    Where is moderation: -1 False?
    1. Re:Reinforcing the term by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's nothing. Just last week I beat a ticket for wearing an Occulus Rift while doing 90 in a school zone in Florida. Told the judge that the cop was a "faggot" (a very specific piece of legal jargon) and he agreed, so I got off free. So forget this bitch, I'm the defender of the future. I'm plan on raise awareness on this subject, so please feel free to donate some money this way.

    2. Re:Reinforcing the term by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

      With that defense, yeah - a total douche. She isn't "defending the future", she's trying to dodge the speeding ticket, with a twist that she was caught what the state of California (IMHO rightly) defines as a monitor. They didn't say it was a "television", and neither does the citation.

      Sorry, ma'am, but even if you manage to get the law itself changed, you're still guilty of violating it.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    3. Re:Reinforcing the term by AK+Marc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So a legal GPS is an illegal monitor as well? I've never seen a definition of "monitor" that didn't make GPS illegal if it made DVD watching illegal (but I have seen laws that indicate that a monitor used for GPS was legal, but never a distinction in what a "monitor" was).

    4. Re:Reinforcing the term by Penguinisto · · Score: 2

      So a legal GPS is an illegal monitor as well?

      Depends on the law in question, but I suspect it's part of why most GPS units have voice directions in addition to the map.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    5. Re:Reinforcing the term by hawguy · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's the relevant California Law, there's a specific exemption for GPS devices:

      http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc27602.htm

      27602. (a) A person shall not drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications, is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at a point forward of the back of the driver’s seat, or is operating and the monitor, screen, or display is visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle.

      (b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to the following equipment when installed in a vehicle:

      (1) A vehicle information display.

      (2) A global positioning display.

      (3) A mapping display.

      (4) A visual display 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 television receiver, video monitor, television or video screen, or any othersimilar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal, if that equipment satisfies one of the following requirements:

      (A) The equipment has an interlock device that, when the motor vehicle is driven, disables the equipment for all uses except as a visual display as described in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive.

      (B) The equipment is designed, operated, and configured in a manner that prevents the driver of the motor vehicle from viewing the television broadcast or video signal while operating the vehicle in a safe and reasonable manner.

      Sounds like Google Glass would fall under this definition since it displays a "video signal that produces entertainment or business applications"

    6. Re:Reinforcing the term by perryizgr8 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "installed" means kept, nothing more. and a dash mounted tablet is legal as long as you keep it in car mode, and don't get caught watching youtube on it while driving. google glass is clearly a huge distraction while driving. if talking on a cellphone is illegal, then wearing google glass should also be illegal.

      --
      Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
    7. Re:Reinforcing the term by hawguy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So most GPS systems are illegal, as most are not "installed", and a dash-mounted tablet used exclusively for GPS is illegal, as it doesn't have an interlock device.

      Most GPS systems are "installed" so far as they are clipped into a holder, as people tend to remove them often to prevent theft.

      I don't know the legal definition of "installed", so I don't know if a GPS suction cupped to the window or to a dash mount is "installed" or not. There is a separate CVC section that covers where a GPS can be mounted.

      But it's true that using a phone or tablet as a GPS can get you into trouble - cell phone tickets have been issued to people while using their cell phone only as a GPS device, if it's not a dedicated GPS unit, then it's not a GPS.

    8. Re:Reinforcing the term by SQLGuru · · Score: 2

      Item (b)(2) allows GPS navigation screens. End of statement. Item (b)(5) brings items that were excluded in (a) as long as they meet (b)(5)(A) or (b)(5)(B). Those two clauses are only needed for items such as TVs and DVD players.....or laptops.....or what have you.

      [Of course, there is an argument to be made that the cop who wrote the ticket very likely had a dash mounted laptop which violates the law in question.]

    9. Re:Reinforcing the term by hawguy · · Score: 3

      [Of course, there is an argument to be made that the cop who wrote the ticket very likely had a dash mounted laptop which violates the law in question.]

      I didn't post the entire CVC section since I didn't think the rest pertained to the case in question, but there's an exception for police and other "authorized emergency vehicles":

      (c) Subdivision (a) does not apply to a mobile digital terminal installed in an authorized emergency vehicle or to a motor vehicle providing emergency road service or roadside assistance.

    10. Re:Reinforcing the term by VortexCortex · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sounds like Google Glass would fall under this definition since it displays a "video signal that produces entertainment or business applications"

      Unless it was being used as a "vehicle information display", right? I mean, just like the magic of 'on a computer' turns mathematics into an invention, the display of information transforms a device into a "vehicle information display". The reason this must be true is because you can not find me a GPS that I can not hack and put Tetris on, or a digital speedometer I can not hack to be a stock ticker. So, the information displayed must transform the device.

      Due to the fact that (A) I can bypass the interlock, and that no one on this planet can (B) design anything in any way as to "prevent the driver" (me) from operating it however I please, or even determine that my operation and viewing thereof is NOT in a "safe and reasonable manner", and beyond these: The fact that all raster displays are video signals, including some in-dash information displays (speedometers, odometers, fuel, etc), Section A and B are so unenforcable that they do in-fact hinder the future development of automotive technology. I don't know about you, but I'd love to be able to (slowly) drive in a dense fog, or blizzard using a computer generated "video feed" of EXTERNAL information (as distinguished from vehicle information) on my HUD.

    11. Re:Reinforcing the term by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Funny

      If your name isn't "Sarah Connor", you are not defending the future.

    12. Re:Reinforcing the term by celle · · Score: 3

      "Like if a meteor strikes your car before you have arranged insurance. Are you going to attempt to construe that somehow you were insured because you had decided to buy car insurance? Or just accept that sometimes shitty fortune strikes?"

            Apples and oranges. Meteors are not under our control, laws and judgements are. Laws don't fit every situation that's why we have judges otherwise just save to cost of judges and have enforcers. "No rule is as simple as a rulebook." Riker -- st:tng

    13. Re:Reinforcing the term by mjwx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      With that defense, yeah - a total douche. She isn't "defending the future", she's trying to dodge the speeding ticket, with a twist that she was caught what the state of California (IMHO rightly) defines as a monitor. They didn't say it was a "television", and neither does the citation.

      Sorry, ma'am, but even if you manage to get the law itself changed, you're still guilty of violating it.

      This,

      My experience with driving in the US (specifically California) is that if she wasn't doing 80+ in a 65 zone the cops would have picked someone who was, they wouldn't have had to wait long at all. She was caught speeding and is trying to make a spectacle out of it in order to get off.

      Whether Google Glass can be classed as a drivers aid is a different issue entirely. Personally I think drivers need to be taught properly in the first place, rather than relying on devices to compensate for their lack of skill (a lack of skill that is obvious enough in Australian drivers, but American drivers make Australians look good).

      Secondly, the Google Glasses have GPS, so they could have been recording her speed. This is one of the reasons I have a dashcam, more specifically a dashcam that also records my speed. Few cops in Australia will outright lie (as in make up a charge), but a lot will inflate a speed figure if their pissed off, so an alleged 8 over becomes a 12 over and the fine is doubled (and you get more demerit points).
       

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    14. Re:Reinforcing the term by hawguy · · Score: 2

      What about the DVD driving lock? Can be easily tampered so it's up to the user to respect the law... why should a mobile phone be different?

      Feel free to explain that to the judge "Your honor, I admit that I was using my phone as as GPS while driving, which is a clear violation of the law against cell phone use while driving, but since the interlock on in-car DVD players are easily (and illegally) tampered with, I obviously should not have gotten that ticket. Hey, I'm defending our future here, and who wants a future where drivers can't use their phones while driving!?"

    15. Re:Reinforcing the term by icebike · · Score: 3

      So a legal GPS is an illegal monitor as well? I've never seen a definition of "monitor" that didn't make GPS illegal if it made DVD watching illegal (but I have seen laws that indicate that a monitor used for GPS was legal, but never a distinction in what a "monitor" was).

      Nope, there is a special exemption in California law for GPS or Navigation only devices.
      There didn't use to be such an exemption, and Garmin and Tom Tom users could get cited.
      Those two companies got together and lobbied for a change in the law.

      There was one other state where GPS was illegal, and they changed their law too.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    16. Re:Reinforcing the term by fractoid · · Score: 2

      This is my response. Getting let off because they can't prove the headset was turned on is dodging the real issue, which is whether or not it should be legal to drive with an augmented reality display active.

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    17. Re:Reinforcing the term by hawguy · · Score: 2

      Sounds like Google Glass would fall under this definition since it displays a "video signal that produces entertainment or business applications"

      No, it doesn't: it IS CAPABLE OF displaying a "video signal that produces entertainment or business applications".

      Right, and that's why its not allowed while driving -- it has no known interlock preventing it from displaying such video while driving, therefore, it's not allowed to be used while driving - not even if you put it into "GPS mode" and promise not to use it to check texts - without an interlock you're not allowed to use Google Glass while driving.

    18. Re:Reinforcing the term by hawguy · · Score: 2

      I think any lawyer worth $0.02 would get that argument thrown out in court. The law does not stipulate that the device must ONLY be capable of those things.

      A California Superior Court disagrees with you.

      http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/04/09/court-rules-using-cell-phone-for-gps-violates-hands-free-driving-laws/

    19. Re:Reinforcing the term by dwater · · Score: 2

      > holding a phone while driving is a violation

      That's about *holding* the device in your hand, not dash-mounted - and I assume head-mounted is the issue in question.

      --
      Max.
    20. Re:Reinforcing the term by Zenin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There's nothing "clearly" about it. It entirely depends on what, if anything, the Glass is displaying.

      GPS, navigation: Far less distracting then a traditional GPS unit as your eyes don't need to leave the road.

      Vehicle information: Far less distracting then even the built in speedometers and such, again because your eyes need not leave the road. For example, Glass linked up with http://www.automatic.com/
       

      --
      My /. uid is better then your /. uid
    21. Re:Reinforcing the term by Enter+the+Shoggoth · · Score: 2, Funny

      With that defense, yeah - a total douche. She isn't "defending the future", she's trying to dodge the speeding ticket, with a twist that she was caught what the state of California (IMHO rightly) defines as a monitor. They didn't say it was a "television", and neither does the citation.

      Sorry, ma'am, but even if you manage to get the law itself changed, you're still guilty of violating it.

      This,

      My experience with driving in the US (specifically California) is that if she wasn't doing 80+ in a 65 zone the cops would have picked someone who was, they wouldn't have had to wait long at all. She was caught speeding and is trying to make a spectacle out of it in order to get off.

      I see what you did there

      --
      Andy Warhol got it right / Everybody gets the limelight
      Andy Warhol got it wrong / Fifteen minutes is too long.
    22. Re:Reinforcing the term by Megol · · Score: 2
      Or maybe the drivers aren't capable to rightfully determine the safe speed. Both those alternatives apply in the real world but my alternative is much more likely to be true.

      Very few drivers are good and capable to assess their capabilities correctly and it is very easy to see, tailgating is very common while simple physics combined with measured human response time will clearly show the dangers of that.

      Race car drivers may be able to determine _their_ performance in a certain car but even they have a hard task determining the potential dangers cause from the environment, other cars/drivers and even something as basic as the road surface.

      In short: in most cases the driver thinks he/she knows better - and are dangerously wrong.

    23. Re:Reinforcing the term by mjwx · · Score: 2

      Um, while I support your use of the dash-cam, I see it this way. If they are inflating the numbers at all, they are lying, guilty of violating their oath of service (Australia does have those right?) and corrupt. Being pissed off simply shows they aren't mature and have no business being a cop. This isn't you capped my partner in a drug sting or punched me while I arrested you for stealing object. This is a frigging traffic ticket. There is NO excuse.

      Whist there is an obligation to behave as a police officer and punishments for breaking the rules, we all know that the world does not always conform exactly to those rules. The sad thing is that you get these little napoleons in all professions that get a tiny taste of power and go mad. The Australian police forces are pretty good at keeping them out (and when they fail, a royal commission works).

      Things work a bit differently in Australia. When you mouth off to a cop, he might up your ticket from a 8 KM over to a 11 KM over (9 or 10 KM over is the barrier for increased fines/demerit points). We tolerate this because the flipside of this is that if you're polite to an officer (what we call "passing the personality test") is when an officer likes you enough to reduce that alleged 12 KM over to 8 KM over.

      However in the US, if you mouth of to a cop you get tasered, wrestled to the ground, held down and cuffed whilst the officer shouts "stop resisting".

      I like our system better.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    24. Re:Reinforcing the term by Talderas · · Score: 3, Informative

      Which leads me to a question.

      At what point would it be satisfactory that a google glass could be used while operating a motor vehicle? I can't see any point where it would be as long as the law is actively enforced rather than passively enforced as an "extra" after an accident occurs. As long as the device is sold independently of vehicles and not integrated there's no way to ensure or tell which drivers are or are not interlocked with the operation of the vehicle.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  2. Like 100 years ago... by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You're guilty because we think you look guilty, now just sit there quietly while we figure out what you are guilty of.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Like 100 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you are using Google Glass while driving, you ARE distracted. There is no guess work or assumptions here. If the device is OFF, then you might as well take it off, and then there would be no problem.

    2. Re:Like 100 years ago... by danknight48 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Isn't that like saying a pilot is distracted by having his HUD turned on?

      Pilots are trained to use Huds.
      A google glass user assumes they are trained, because their ego is bigger than anyone around them.

    3. Re:Like 100 years ago... by tftp · · Score: 2

      With GG turning on and off easily, or on its own, there is no way to prove guilt - not without forensic examination of the log. This means that GG is a wide open door to texting and browsing Web from behind the wheel. Mere wearing it proves nothing - until the legislature says something about that.

      With regard to having GG off while driving, this is not viable because recording, or taking still pictures, while driving is a valid use (as long as you do it by voice, which GG is designed for.) It's certainly more valid than wearing it in crowd.

    4. Re:Like 100 years ago... by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If she can show me that her Google Glasses provided information that is vital or at the very least helpful to driving a car instead of, at best, a distraction, we can talk.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Like 100 years ago... by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As someone who used to work on Heads-Up Displays, I can tell you that there is a vast difference between the two.

      First off, aircraft don't follow each other in the sky at distances of around 3 airplane-lengths apart. They also aren't confined to just two dimensions. Outside of ATC control zones, they don't have speed limits. Pilots in aircraft with HUDs are highly-trained (think very-high-end commercial jets, fighter jets, etc.) The HUD is specifically built and engineered to assist the pilot, and nothing else. Finally, unless it's a fighter jet, the HUD doesn't swallow the entire pilot's field-of-view. HUD gear is certified by the FAA before use on a given model/type of aircraft.

      Notice that Google Glass on some douchebag's face while driving his/her car is the polar fucking opposite of all these things. :/

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    6. Re:Like 100 years ago... by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      Who said she was "using" it while driving? Having it on your head is proof it was in use?

    7. Re:Like 100 years ago... by AK+Marc · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So what about the cars with HUDs in them? No special training, and so far, no legal assertions that they are illegal.

    8. Re:Like 100 years ago... by DexterIsADog · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Seeing the turn by turn navigation directions without looking away to the dashboard display is not "helpful"?

    9. Re:Like 100 years ago... by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wouldn't it be the prosecution's duty to show that it wasn't?

      Given a choice between the driver looking at the GPS or seeing it on a HUD, the latter seems safer.

    10. Re:Like 100 years ago... by vux984 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Isn't that like saying a pilot is distracted by having his HUD turned on?

      Does a pilot's HUD send and receive display SMS messages? Facebook updates? Twitter feeds? Does it answer inane trivia that you ask it like "How long is the average intestine?" or "What's the word for chicken in chinese?" If you ask a pilot's hud to show you a funny lol-cat will it?

      Or does it just show you highly flying relevant info graphics and information like the horizon, airspeed, altitude, rate of descent...?

      Yeah, they are totally the same thing, right?

    11. Re:Like 100 years ago... by jklovanc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Vehicle huds do not display emails, text messages, etc that Glass does. They are also exempt from the law as they are vehicle information displays. The problem with Glass is that it takes the driver's mind off driving at random times and that distraction can cause accidents. Multitasking is a myth. Some people can task switch faster than others but doing multiple things with the eyes (reading a text message and watching traffic at the same time) is nearly impossible.

    12. Re:Like 100 years ago... by Dahamma · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, they are. The simulators can have the same HUD as the real thing. That, and the HUD is designed specifically to be used in the few situations it's actually needed on a plane (mostly on approach and landing). A HUD *designed* for a car that just shows the speed, etc, would be fine, and exists in some models. One that shows you your friends' latest Facebooks posts and your dinner shopping list is NOT.

      And to be honest, a commercial airline pilot is lucky (or unlucky, really) to have to make more than a few quick decisions in his entire CAREER. And that's for someone with thousands of hours of required training for one task. On the other hand, the average driver has to do it multiple times a day, and the minimum requirements for a drivers license (in the US, at least) are terrifyingly low.

    13. Re:Like 100 years ago... by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      The assertion was that special training was needed to use HUDs. That assertion is wrong.

    14. Re:Like 100 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yeah, this.

      Unless you're flying formation, or taking off or landing, there's a ton of empty space around you when you're flying. Even flying VFR a pilot is going to be constantly scanning the instruments, tuning comm and nav instruments, and reading/updating his navigation charts. That's not distracted flying, that's part of the job. But the "road" is straight and clear, with nothing likely to jump out from behind a tree in front of you. I've flown long (6-hour legs) solo cross-countries in pre-GPS days. It's not that hard.

      I've also flown in formations, with a few yards between planes. That's like driving a crowed highway with everyone going above the speed limit. Unless you're the lead plane, you don't hardly look at anything except your relation to the other guys' plane(s).

    15. Re:Like 100 years ago... by GauteL · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wouldn't it be the prosecution's duty to show that it wasn't?

      Given a choice between the driver looking at the GPS or seeing it on a HUD, the latter seems safer.

      No. As stated by others, there are laws against monitors while driving on a public road. There are specific exemptions (essentially a whitelist) when they have been tested and considered safe. Google Glass (or any wearable HUD-type tech) has not yet been tested and approved for driving but she decided to use it anyway. She is a douche and endangering others and should be prosecuted as such.

      The most important consideration about driving: driving on public roads is a privilege, not a right. Driving on them comes with conditions set and enforced by the public. This should be kept in mind when discussing "driver's rights". Whenever Slashdot discusses things like random breathalyzer tests someone always brings up the constitution and inaliable rights. Surely the consitution says nothing about rights of access to public highways? If you refuse to take a breathalyzer test, I'm sure the state could ban you from driving on its roads without breaking any amendment.

    16. Re:Like 100 years ago... by KingMotley · · Score: 2

      They obstruct your FOV much like the roof of your car does. You actually have to look very far upwards to see the display in google glass, so far up, they you are now more than likely looking at the roof of your car.

    17. Re:Like 100 years ago... by Rich0 · · Score: 2

      As stated by others, there are laws against monitors while driving on a public road.

      The law in question bans the use of a smartphone by a passenger in the front seat. Read it. Any monitor of any kind forward of the rear of the driver's seat is banned. Presumably you can put the super bowl on in the back seat if you watch it through the rear view mirror though.

      The most important consideration about driving: driving on public roads is a privilege, not a right.

      I'd like you to find that in the Constitution somewhere. I'll raise you the 9th amendment. Just because cars didn't exist in the 1700s doesn't mean that people are less free to operate them than colonialists were to operate horses.

      But hey, the Constitution doesn't say anything about reading every text message sent by anybody on the planet either, so...

  3. The future of the human race by danknight48 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just look at this page:
    https://plus.google.com/+CeciliaAbadie/posts

    That right there is the future of the human race.
    A self obsessed, attention seeking, ignorant person who thinks she can drive with a HUD. Maybe she can, but until she has trained in the army to use HUD's whilst driving, take the bloody thing off, for once, think of other people!

    This single woman has basically enabled the world to drive with google glass. All those future accidents, waiting to happen, are on you Cecilia.

    1. Re:The future of the human race by DexterIsADog · · Score: 4, Funny

      Holy shit! This is awful! Do you KNOW what she's DONE?

      She made me look at a Google+ page! There are things you just cannot unsee.

    2. Re:The future of the human race by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There are plenty of cars available now with legal HUDs, no training required. Your arguement doesn't work.

    3. Re:The future of the human race by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      #googlepaidmylegalcosts #igotawaywithspeeding

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    4. Re:The future of the human race by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      And the fact that none of those have been applied to the current HUD equipped cars in the US supports my argument, not yours.

  4. Sad Day for San Diego... and Drivers in General by GoCats1999 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As a resident of San Diego, I hope to goodness that I don't run into her... or to be more literal, that she doesn't physically run into me or anyone in my family.

    To weasel out of an everyday traffic ticket is one thing... but to say that she's "defending the future" is an affront to the public servants and to regular drivers and citizens who are just trying to make our roads safe.

    At 80mph, you travel over 117 feet *per second*. (She may have denied it, but I'm pretty sure the cop was right and that she was going 80, or at least close to it — this is San Diego, and pretty much everyone drives at around 75 - 80). Using Glass, it's very easy and conceivable to focus on the image for a second or two. You could almost clear an entire football field in that amount of time.

    While there may be marginal gains of utility and efficiency by using a product like Google Glass while driving, I am very hard pressed to hear that it would actually make anyone safer... and of course, time will likely show that products like this (just like with cell phone use and texting) will actually make drivers less aware of the road, and thus, more dangerous and more prone to accidents.

    At some point, we need to just label "idiotic" for what it is, and admit that some "causes" are just that.

    1. Re:Sad Day for San Diego... and Drivers in General by LordLucless · · Score: 2

      From the summary

      A court commissioner in San Diego dismissed the Google Glass ticket, saying he could find no evidence that the device was in use while Abadie was driving.

      She wasn't ticketed for using Glass, she was ticketed for Glass being there.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  5. Re:story? by Garridan · · Score: 2

    If you shoot your victim to death, and there's no evidence that their participation wasn't consentual, then it wasn't murder, right?

  6. Incompetent, Irrelevant and Immaterial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's irrelevant that there is "no evidence" Glass was being used while driving. The fact of the matter is Abadie was wearing Glass while driving and California law prohibits driving even with a computer sitting closed on the front passenger seat or anywhere in the front of the car.

  7. Case has been dropped by margeman2k3 · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/16/us-usa-googleglass-trial-dismissal-idUSBREA0F1XR20140116

    A San Diego court commissioner dismissed a traffic ticket on Thursday against a California woman who drove with Google Glass, a tiny computer mounted on an eyeglass frame. Court Commissioner John Blair said he was dismissing the citation against Cecilia Abadie on the grounds there was no proof her Google Glass was operating when she was pulled over in October by a California Highway Patrol officer

  8. Don't be absurd. It isn't a monitor. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And truth be told, the sooner HUDs are moved into the driving experience, the better. It's just that at certain speeds particular features should likely be disabled.

  9. What the hell happened to Silicon Valley? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Silicon Valley used to be a truly remarkable place. It was where industry and the future truly did collide head-on. And because of this, great things happened there.

    Hewlett-Packard. Fairchild Semiconductor. Xerox PARC. Intel. Sun Microsystems. Cisco Systems.

    Those were the kind of names we came to associate with very advanced technological achievement. They earned our respect with the tremendous advances they made.

    But then something happened. Silicon Valley ceased to be about a productive, beneficial future. It became about a shitty, rotten future. It became about "social media". It became about advertising. It became about a disturbing level of data collection and mining.

    The Silicon Valley of today is a mere shell of what it once was. Clad in fedora hats and rampant hipsterism, Silicon Valley of today is a sissified, degenerate place. Gone are the real scientists and engineers who advanced technology for all of mankind. Gone are their advances. Gone are the hope they brought.

    I weep for Silicon Valley. It truly does make me quite distraught to think about what has happened to it. One of the greatest intellectual creations ever to existed has been crushed by men who wear tight jeans and glasses without lenses. It has been dragged through the mud by overweight, unshaven manchildren wearing stained shirts with shitty Japanese drawings on them. It has been shit upon repeatedly by self-styled "entrepreneurs" and "engineers" whose only talent is unjustifiable self promotion.

    It is too late to save Silicon Valley. But other technologically-inclined regions should take note of what happened there. Keep away the hipsters. Keep away the bearded manchildren. Keep away the "entrepreneurs" and "engineers" who spew forth about Ruby on Rails. These people are an infection, and this infection will destroy even the most robust of technological and industrial communities. Do not let them ruin your community like they ruined Silicon Valley's.

    1. Re:What the hell happened to Silicon Valley? by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't think I've ever read a more angst-ridden, afraid-of-the-future, and everyone-but-me-sucks post. And I've read Katz's posts.

      There is a ton of engineering and cool stuff still happening. If you think that it's all just Google, Facebook and hipsters - you need to stop hanging out with hipsters and actually take a look at the companies that are there. Tesla alone makes the area cool again.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  10. Would of been impressed if by Nyder · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would of been more impressed if she used the google glasses to prove she wasn't speeding.

    --
    Be seeing you...
  11. Breaking News! by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Rich entitled-feeling woman with new shiny toy feels she is above the law, news at 11.

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  12. HUD are for Situational Awareness. by couchslug · · Score: 2

    "Isn't that like saying a pilot is distracted by having his HUD turned on?"

    NO, it obviously is not. WTF, over?

    HUD are designed to make aircraft operation SAFER by maintaining pilot situational awareness. They put information relevant to operating the aircraft in his field of vision so he doesn't have to scan down/sideways as often to read MFDs and instruments.

    Now what tech-illiterates modded that post up? That's a disgraceful display of cluelessness.

    See the HUD example. Read what the display depicts:

    http://falcon4.wikidot.com/avionics:hud

    Watch the HUD video to see why this display is important especially when under G's:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHx-OWdHqf8

    Note the absence of Tweets, email, and office-related correspondence.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  13. Dumb bitch. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Were you using a distracting device? Yes.
    Were you speeding? Yes.
    Are you now wasting MY tax money and the courts time? Yes.

    Throw the bitch in jail for a month. I don't mind paying for THAT.

    You are not 'defending the future' you are defending being a self absorbed twat. And *I* don't want you to win and cause more of that.

    Personally i'd ban the use of cellphones while the car is in motion. Most of them now have accelerometers. Use it. Disable the phone if the car is moving.
    Less distracted morons on the road is good for everyone. Oh you're a passenger? We'll have passenger mode.
    Get caught driving with your phone in passenger mode? $10,000 fine and a month in jail.
    We'll put a stop to driving while distracted real quick. At least for phones. Is it perfect? Nope. But it's a good start.

    Letting people be the cause of 30,000 deaths on the road per year because you don't want to infringe their 'rights' is bullshit. We stripped away more rights for 3000 deaths on 9-11. If we're going to keep losing rights. Lets at least put their loss to some use that actually prevents deaths.

    1. Re:Dumb bitch. by addie · · Score: 3

      Clearly dumb, entitled, arrogant, whatever. But why do you have to use the word bitch or twat? Using an insult that is specific to her gender suggests that part of her behaviour is defined by that gender.

      So many of us claim that we're not sexist, and feminism has done its work, but we still don't realize that the way we use language degrades women in ways that it simply doesn't if we were talking about a man. And no, "asshole" is not a gendered insult. We've all got one.

  14. Re:strike 1 by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 2

    Thing is, as the judge noted there wasn't any evidence she was using the Glass at the time. Her argument will continue to work as long as the cops can't produce any evidence to support the charge. And despite the claims, it is not illegal to drive while wearing Glass, any more than it's illegal to drive with one of those in-dash touchscreen entertainment systems installed. It's only illegal to drive with them operating. And unlike the in-dash systems it's virtually impossible to tell whether Glass is operating without putting it on yourself.

    She wasn't ticketed for wearing Glass, though. She was ticketed for speeding, and you'll notice that she didn't even try to fight that one because the cops have her dead to rights on it. The Glass charge was a tack-on charge, something they added on because they could and having it there to drop at trial makes it easier to make the speeding charge stick. Likely she got it because she mouthed off to the cop when he was writing her up, and he decided to write her up for everything he could. Her case should be an object lesson: how you respond to the cops has a big effect on how you're written up. Be a jerk, they'll pile on everything they can. Be polite and reasonable and honest, and often they'll write it up for the minimum (or even straight-up let you off with a warning).