Hands off the smartphone map, California court tells drivers

Mapping technology and smartphones often go hand in hand, but in California if you want to check your destination on your mobile device don’t be driving at the same time.



Technically, the ruling suggests if you want to use a mapping program in California you have to do it without touching a mobile device. For a lot of people that wouldn’t be a problem. Google Maps on Android, for example, delivers stellar spoken turn-by-turn directions that you can initiate while parked.

That said, picking on mapping programs when it comes to distracted driving is bizarre, considering you don’t hear of people getting tickets for using a paper map while driving. Plus, you’d think that trying to find your destination isn’t frivolous behavior, whereas the practice of texting while driving is by and large unnecessary, not to mention hazardous.

In fact, texting while driving has been shown to be more dangerous than drunk driving, six times worse than talking on the phone while driving and implicated in numerous public transit crashes during which operators were tapping on their phones instead of watching where they were going.


In Minnesota, drivers can’t write, read or send electronic messages or use the Internet, even when stopped at a traffic light. However, the law does not apply to devices “permanently affixed to the vehicle or global positioning or navigation systems.”

Fine, but think about all the connected cars rolling off the line these days—vehicles with touchscreen displays that do all sorts of smartphone-like things.


As for distracted driving legislation, one thing is certain: Many drivers aren’t obeying.



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