Touching Your GPS While Driving May Become Illegal in New Jersey

Obviously they can't deal with real issues so they spend their time fixing problems that don't exist. Next they will pass a law that people will not be able to touch their radio/air conditioner/etc. while driving.

Yet another reason to stay out of NJ.....

HAHA

Yes, the first is that you must be able to hold your breath for the entire State while driving north on 95!

Fred

What else should be banned while driving: tuning the radio, singing in the car, talking to passengers, chewing gum, putting on sunglasses, there are many distractions taht can be listed. While we all can agree that you need to pay attention when driving, if you use common sense, you will not do anything that distracts your driving ability.

GPS. GPS. GPS.

The thread title said GPS.

Since you have to press a button to make the GPS listen to the command . . .

The poster that mentioned radios, aircon and such has a very valid point.

Then there is the question of vehicles with built-in navigators . .

When will the government realise that they really have better things to do than to meddle in our personal lives.

I agree that perhaps a navigator is a distraction, but then so are things like roadside signs and speed cameras and such.

How marvelous that this legislature proposed the in-car smoking ban (the article says it was adoped elsewhere, was it enacted in NJ?). But smoking in the home is more dangerous, since our kids spend more time there.

Too much government. Too much big brother.

But eating a burger with a side of fries, and a coke, all while steering with your elbow is still legal!!! You gotta love goverment!!!

But you can still do makeup and read the paper

They want to make it illegal to use a GPS yet, only something like 14 states have made texting while driving illegal... What's wrong with that picture???

Oh Man New Jersey real Stinks, Your GPS (there I used GPS) should be be bonging or the POI stinky air sound should be on singing from one end of the state to the other.

Actually, your honor, I wasn't TOUCHING the GPS, I was merely pointing to it to show my wife our destination on the map.

But when in NJ, I would want to have that GPS.

NJ is not my first location to travel to on vacation, however.

To find the fastest way out?????

So says the guy headed to Cape May this weekend.

Does this automatically qualifies NJ to be in the Unsafe Neighborhoods file some people wanted to create?

but not unsafe (unless you are talking about ...)

Nova Scotia, recently passed a by-law prohibiting the smoking in cars when children are also in the car. Neat law but I would LOVE to know how they are going to enforce it - smoke-alyzer? Also how do you inform trouists to the province that this is an illegal act....makes lawmakers feel good but really cannot be enforced!

Pretty soon they will make it illegal to touch the windshield wipers, turn signals, AC and heat.

Why would they want to inform tourists and lose that revenue source? Remember, tourists can't vote. Also, unless the tourists are from, say, New Brunswick, it's highly unlikely they would return for a court date to contest the citation. It wouldn't surprise me if enforcement efforts targeted rental cars and out-of-province license plates.

While I agree that the province/state is not likely to inform the tourists this should be the role of the AAA/CAA to provide tourist information that covers these parculiarities. To wit: I routinely drive the I95 corridor through HJ and unless the issue were brought up here I would not know until I got teh ticket! (Another good reason to use this site - thanks everyone another dollar saved!)
So here's the question: What other states have laws pertaining to use (or location) of GPS?

Amen to that!

I think the automobile associations do this to some extent at least. AAA has pretty much declared the entire state of Arizona a speed trap because of all the fixed and mobile cameras. I believe they put that warning on any literature or maps about the state you may request from them. But not every driver belongs to such organizations.

Oh, and before you start pulling your GPS off the window/dashboard as you drive across the George Washington Bridge, that New Jersey prohibition about touching your GPS hasn't yet become law. I'm certain if it does, someone here will post about it.

(As a Cannuck, I thought you'd like play on words) I started a new thread "Travel Laws I don't know about" to see if I can get a handle on what else is out there and perhaps put into POI file (somehow?)

What a job that would be for you. How in the world would you do that? It might be better just to have the GPSr start beeping as you go into the state and quit when you leave.

Been giving it some thought. If I use the same concept as we do for toll booths, or rest stops then use the same principal for special laws......at I95 boarder from, say, NJ to NY up pops an alert and read the screen like we do for rest stops only put in our own short form.....N Cell, N Radar, N wind GPS, etc? might work.....

When will the madness end?

a women was recently arrested for smoking in her van with 3 kids in the back seats here in Illinois they have that law here as well its mainly enforced on roadside duis and such check points u cant smoke in your car with a child present

We are losing all are rights in all states people really need to wake up and put a stop to this It won't be long when Russia will be more free then this country We need to put a stop to this and start voting all these A Holes out of office Need to take are country back and make it free again!!!!

you are fobidden from talking on your cellphone, but you can read the morning paper, eat a McDonalds pukeburger, eat breakfast AND lunch while driving, but, don't you dare to talk on the phone!

The nuts are minding the store!! What next, it's getting that way all over the country...I want Ronnie back!!

That is already illegal in Ontario and I have just assumed that it could be illegal anywhere we travel in the US. Better safe than sorry.

As a result, I developed a new voice activated system for my NUVI 350. Now anyone that knows the 350 knows it doesn't come standard with voice activation. here's what you do.

The procedure is all a function of the proper wording:
"Wife Dear". "Please press Where To, Location, Custom POI, Myrtle Beach South, and then OK" It's very effective as long as you talk nice to the copilot.

The Christian Science Monitor featured an aricle last September on a study which found that in many places where texting while driving was banned, accidents increased. "The researchers speculated that if texting drivers held their phones lower to avoid detection, the amount of visual distraction increased significantly." http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0928/Bans-on-texti...

If touching GPS units is outlawed, I want to own stock in a company that produces GPS vent and cup-holder mounts. Just like many folks are not going to stop texting, lots of GPS owners are going to occasionally pay homage to the GPS gods.

Imposed solutions often have unintended consequences.

Illinois has no-texting law, but specifically exempts navigation devices.

My Zumo 665 GPS is also an mp3 player and XM radio. So if all I touch are the XM/mp3 functions, am I legal under this proposed law?

Hey guys!

C'mon, I live in southern Jersey and it's beautiful! Remember, it's call the GARDEN state. Now...northern Jersey....

Rath *hoping Tony Soprano isn't a member*

as Nazi Jersey...just more evidence that the moniker is apt. Last year IIRC a survey indicated that 49% of adults wanted out of NJ...can you blame them?

amazing NJ politicians can find time and energy to waste on nonsense and not address real issues

All the more reason to make sure the GPS is ploting the quickest route out of New Jersey (though the southern part is not to bad).

No officer, I wasn't using the GPS features, I was just fast forwarding the movie I was watching.

to avoid New Jersey

Government bureaucracy at its most absurd it would seem at first appearance. However, the masses must be regulated somehow. If you drive for a living, it would amaze you how many people are using their GPS while driving, let alone texting and such.

Too much government. Too much big brother?

Actually, it all starts with fanatic people that recruit others into their insane thinking of knowing whats good for everyone else.

so you cannot touch a gps but you can look at it, talk to it but no touching!

remember, no touching

I grew up in NY when you could get Long Island Potatoes. Pretty soon it will be an urban legend why NJ is called the Garden State.

Amazing!

I think it will be a good law. I have heard that touching your GPS too often can cause blindness and pimples.

only if you use the Jill or Karen voices :)

for as long as I can remember

condolences

told me while I was driving and playing with NUVI that there hasn't been any "INJURY" accidents because the driver was playing with the GPS. I look at him and he said "Yep, they were all fatal accidents". He was joking of course, but there was a message there.

Regards,

Norm

Maybe this is a case of the majority being punished for a minority of bad drivers. I was behind someone fiddling with their GPS on the on ramp to a freeway on Saturday and what a pain that was! He kept braking and slowing down without any discernable reason and I figured he was probably talking on a cell phone, my first opportunity to pass him I saw he was playing with his GPS.

there is no GPS manufacturer/HQ in NJ... that is the reason.