Cecilia Abadie was stopped for speeding last Tuesday in California. When the officer approached her, he noticed she was wearing Google Glasses and decided to add a second offence to her ticket: driving while looking at a monitor. Driving laws vary by state, and the specific statue allegedly broken by Ms. Abadie is V C 27602 which is usually reserved for people who watch movies while driving. It does make exceptions for GPS devices, and screens that help the driver navigate the road. A monitor can also be allowed if there are safety features that disable the video feed while driving. The problem is the law is broad enough that she may end up having a hard time fighting it in court.
It is the first time the device is specifically targeted in such a ticket. Google Glass is new technology and there are still no clear laws specifically targeting its use, while the still low number of wearers mean that there hasn’t been much pressure to legislate it yet. Obviously for us, we think that using Glass is much safer than even looking at a GPS screen, though if it is possible to enable a video feature while traveling above a certain speed, Ms. Abadie may be in trouble.
What do you guys think? Potentially distracting tech while driving? Or money hungry police departments looking for every opportunity to make a dime?
VIA [ CNN ]
