I was recently (as a passenger) in a car with a GPS. I couldn't wait for the ride to over because the driver was concentrating on the GPS rather than the road. Why is having a TV in car with the screen visible from the driver seat illegal, but having the GPS right there in the center of the dash legal?
Good question.
< Good question. >>
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Thanks, now we wait for a good answer. And NOT one from the government!
government!
I could venture a guess - what is viewed on the GPS screen is relative to the vehicle, what is viewed on a TV screen is not.
In Ontario having it there is not illegal, but technically using it is. No video screen may be visible to the driver. Kinda rules out a "glass cockpit" in your car.
I had a TV screen connected to a video camera used as a rear vision device towing a trailer, and untill I demonstrated it to the officer he was BOUND he was going to charge me.
I think the newer GPS systems use voice direction, ending the necessity of looking at the screen to actually use it. I know the Chrysler RB-1 system(which I would love to get) also disables most of the controls while the car is moving over something like 5mph. The idea is that it forces you to pull over to use the different displays.
I'm sure if the amount of damage insurance co's have to shell out for becomes large enough, due to "GPS distraction", it will certainly become illegal. They do have a powerful lobby, don't they?
On the distraction subject, while at a light, I watched a guy on a motorcycle make a cell phone call, I was wondering what he was going to do when the light turned,(he was using his throttle hand to hold the phone, but he timed it just right, ending the call just before the light changed.
SRG
The Acura's have voice recognition as well as voice output. I have a handheld Garmin which I keep in the instrument well. It's not as sophisticated as a built in, it can't talk just beep, but it's a lot less distracting then trying to figure out where you are or what street you are on. People who live in the midwest where the roads are straight and well marked may not be able to appreciate just how much a GPS simplifies your life. I live in New England where there aren't any street signs, all roads are very very curvy, and streets all change their names at every town boundary. My GPS makes it possible to get places in a fraction of the time that it used to take. I would never consider buying a new car that didn't have one.
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