The rulings given by courts go against what police officers think it's safe while driving

Mar 1, 2014 09:51 GMT  ·  By

A judge in Fresno, California has ruled that it’s not illegal to use cell phones while driving as long as they are only employed for looking for traffic directions. 

While many states in the US and in the rest of the world have outlawed the use of cell phones while driving, especially for texting, it looks like the phone use for other purposes is becoming more accepted in courts.

The decision taken by the court from Fresno, California, comes after a man appealed a traffic ticket he received because he was using a navigation app on his iPhone. Since most people use their smartphones to get directions via mapping apps, instead of buying an additional GPS device, the claim doesn’t sound too far-fetched.

Steven Spriggs is the man who received the ticket while stopped in traffic on a congested highway over two years ago. Thanks to the decision taken by the appeal court, all charges have been tossed.

The decision was unanimous, as the Fifth District Court said that the laws pertaining to cell phone use only cover talking and texting while behind the wheel. This means that the use of apps such as Google Maps is permitted.

Understandably, law enforcement officers are concerned with the turn of things, because people stopped over for using their mobile phones could quickly open up a GPS app to hide their original activities.

For good measure, the Fresno PD’s captain said that he sees no difference between texting, making phone calls, and using a navigation app when it comes to safety.

Another Californian court recently made another call that upset authorities greatly by ruling that a person can wear Google Glass while driving if the device is turned off.

A member of the Glass Explorer program run by Google was given a ticket for wearing the device while driving. However, she claimed that the Glass was turned off at the time and that she always wears it so she didn’t think to take it off especially since she wasn’t using it.

The judge decided that Cecilia Abadie was right in her claim and said that she wouldn’t have to pay the ticket.

In the meantime, Google is pushing for lawmakers all over the United States to accept Google Glass and to permit it behind the wheel, claiming that the device is not meant to distract users, but rather to connect them with the world around them.