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Distracted Driving Laws Yet to Catch Up With Apple Watch

Shouldn't checking the time on your watch be equally illegal? How about using the latest infotainment units built into the car?

It will never end and the loop holes will never end. There should simply be a "causing a crash" fine where the driver did not properly operate or take appropriate evasive maneuvers. Causing harm, injury, or death should add to the fee and/or jail time. Make people responsible for causing accidents (other than insurance) and let anyone choose how they drive and how they appropriately operate a vehicle.

Personally I would never use a phone in my hand while driving, but the Watch is great for driving directions and quick glances.
 
That guy is terrible at driving. I feel like a simple sneeze could distract him enough to make him veer into a completely different lane. Hope he never listens to the radio.
 
dthmtlgod said:
Note to the public, the Apple Watch is not the first smart watch released :)
Why is now an issue, Pebble, LG, Sony, Martian and others have had their products released and in the wild for years.
Click to expand...

It was definitely an issue before, but the Apple Watch has arguably brought a lot more attention to the smartwatch market than competing devices, and we're an Apple-focused website. No sales numbers have been released, but early predictions suggest the Apple Watch outsold the 720,000 Android Wear devices sold in 2014 on launch day alone. I'm not trying to start a platform war by saying that.
 
For Daylight Savings Time - I glanced at my real (non-smartwatch) and compared it to my car clock (couldn't remember if I changed it or not) while driving...wonder how far this can go.

Obviously you can do a lot more with an Apple Watch than a regular watch, but you can also adjust audio presets and programming radio stations on your car radio (and, yes there was a HUGE backlash to ban car radios when they were first introduced)

We are too quick to vilify "distracted driving" when it comes to anything new - makeup, food, billboards, car radios should be equally vilified.

Except for the Oculus Rift - that should definitely be banned and vilified while driving...at least until autonomous cars come out!
 
Steering wheel controls for me! I like my phone dash-mounted to see my music controls and GPS direction without looking very far--but for interaction, Siri plus steering wheel skip controls. For anything more complex, I can pull over easily enough and not play Russian Roulette with the strangers around me.
 
At my job we aren't even allowed to have any devices on us during work hours (except break times) so between that and possibly not being able to drive with one there's really no point in my getting one.
 
raj said:
Come on, people! This isn't a new problem. Smart watches have been available for quite a few years now and Apple is only the latest version (and not necessarily the best). Driver distraction is driver distraction, regardless of the origin of the distraction. We don't need a specific law about every possible distraction. What about people who drive with a baby in a carrier in the back seat? Do we have a specific law about that distraction? What about male drivers with their wife or girlfriend wearing a short skirt in the passenger seat? Do we have a law about *that* distraction?
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Quite a leap from smart watch to baby carrier and ending up with short skirts.

The fact is that there are lots of people that really don't understand how far their car really travels while texting or reading texts. Glancing at different parts of the cars like speedometer, wipers, etc is significantly shorter.
 
driving and texting is the easiest thing....theres a bunch of stupid people that cant multi task jacking people up.
 
imicca said:
Mentioned USA and Canada only. Great job guys. Nothing about EU/UK/China? Macrumors step up international audience interest.
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Is there a place to go to get relevant laws for other nation states? If so please contribute, otherwise I think that MR might need a little slack on this issue as there are lots of nations in the world.
 
No need for new laws...

...distracted driving is distracted driving. Cell phones and texting are an easy target because they are visible and obvious...make-up, reading a newspaper, turning to the back seat for a kid...all distracted driving. No new laws are needed even for texting or cell phones...the existing statutes can be used. ANYTHING that takes your attention from your primary duty...driving...is a distraction and can/should be cited...
 
jimlat said:
ANYTHING that takes your attention from your primary duty...driving...is a distraction and can/should be cited...
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There has to be reasonable allowances. There are many things you do while driving that are distracting, and they're perfectly legal. No one needs to listen to the radio, but its use in automobiles is utterly uncontroversial.

Look around your car. There are tons of built-in things that have nothing to do with driving and lead to distractions. Cupholders! No one needs to drink while driving. You can take care of that before hand or stop somewhere if you're really thirsty.
 
These laws definitely need to be looked at. Wearable technology is only going to get bigger and more widespread. Better to catch this early. Effectively, it's like strapping a smartphone to your wrist. You're making it even more accessible whilst driving. Something should be done about that, but an outright ban could be quite inconvenient. Can you imagine having to take your Apple Watch off every time you get into your car?
 
It's ok

Tim is currently making a car to fix this problem.

I can then drink pop and smoke cigars as the car drives itself.

Are you getting it yet? ;-)

You only see problems. And I only see solutions ;-) The more problems, the more solutions.
 
Komrad808 said:
Soon there will be a bill that will ban all electronic use while driving. But we still can eat, drink (a beverage) and put on make up while driving.
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In Canada there's a distracted driving charge. If you look distracted while driving, you will get a ticket.

That includes if you're doing your makeup/eating
 
The solution is not to ban devices, it's to faze out driving since it's a thing of the past... Cars are items that have not significantly evolved for a century, it's time to move on...
 
Let's See Them Enforce Phones, First

Come talk to me about watches when police finally start enforcing the cell phone ban here in CA. I'm one of maybe ten drivers in all of Los Angeles that DON'T use a cellphone while driving. It irritates me to no end as we have enough traffic problems here made considerably worse by drivers who feel the need to Facebook while commuting. Car after car after car that I pass each day, looking down at their lap.

So yeah, not too worried about watch laws, LOL.
 
Komrad808 said:
Soon there will be a bill that will ban all electronic use while driving. But we still can eat, drink (a beverage) and put on make up while driving.
Click to expand...

Plus, talk to the person next to you... But not a person that is in the car next to you on the phone...

Wait, does this include CB radios?

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wesleypitts said:
Come talk to me about watches when police finally start enforcing the cell phone ban here in CA. I'm one of maybe ten drivers in all of Los Angeles that DON'T use a cellphone while driving. It irritates me to no end as we have enough traffic problems here made considerably worse by drivers who feel the need to Facebook while commuting. Car after car after car that I pass each day, looking down at their lap.

So yeah, not too worried about watch laws, LOL.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's not Facebook they're playing with...

:eek:
 
dBeats said:
There should simply be a "causing a crash" fine where the driver did not properly operate or take appropriate evasive maneuvers. Causing harm, injury, or death should add to the fee and/or jail time.
Click to expand...

So, if a driver kills your kids while operating his smartphone, the fact that he is fined will make you feel better ? Maybe, even, it will resurrect your kid ?

Anyway, you're not inventing anything. This is already the case. If you lost control of your vehicle because of your actions or lack of actions, this is already taken into account by the judge as aggravating circumstances. And this has never prevented people from doing that. They just all think they will be fine since they're excellent drivers...
 
Navigation is a godsend on the watch. I never have to look at my phone since it taps my wrist when I need to turn and gives me ample time unlike the apps on the phone.
 
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