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Using Handheld Phone GPS While Driving Is Legal In California

Posted by Soulskill on from the now-just-wait-for-somebody-to-make-a-GPS-bejeweled-mashup dept.

jfruh writes "Steven R. Spriggs was ticketed and fined $165 for violating California's law on cell phone use while operating a motor vehicle, which states that you can only use a phone while driving if you have a hands-free device. But he appealed the judgement, arguing that the law only applied to actually talking on the phone, whereas he had been caught checking his GPS app. Now an appeals court has agreed with him. The law in question was enacted in 2006, before the smartphone boom."

3 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Why was he pulled over? by Dareth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If he was only pulled over because the officer observed him using an electronic device then the driver was correct. If he was pulled over for dangerous or reckless driving while using a device then the office wrote him the wrong ticket.

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
  2. Re:Yes, that's obviously safer by Wycliffe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Stop and go traffic is among the most accident prone situations.

    This might be true. But accidents are not all equal. You are MUCH more likely to die
    or seriously injure someone while driving at high speed than in slow stop and go traffic
    because of both the speed of collision as well as reaction time.

  3. Re:Dumb ruling by nugatory78 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is exactly the issue I have with my Subaru BRZ. If the car is moving, you can't enter information into the GPS. Thats all well and good when there is only me in the car, but stopping my passenger from using it is asinine! I hit this issue on a road trip, I wanted my passenger to try and find somewhere up ahead for us to eat (in the country with no decent cell data connection). I ended up having to pull off the highway and pull over just to find a nearby restaurant... not impressed.

    --
    The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand. - Frank Herbert