sdscuba

California Bans Front-Seat Computer Use

http://www.itsa.org/resources.nsf/Fi...-chaptered.pdf

As of January 1, 2004 the State of California has banned the use of notebook computers used anywhere in the front seat of a moving vehicle.

Previously, the ban applied just to TV sets.

Even if your car-pooling front seat passenger is just doing some programming, you can be charged with a crime (AB 301). Thanks go to CA Assemblymember Sarah Reyes for this well meaning but overly broad piece of legislation.

The text is mercifully short, but still contains some tricky language; probably the meaning of "installed" at the very least needs to be clarified. Would a laptop affixed to a installed bracket count? Considering the complexity of modern automotive navigation/control systems (now sneaking into budget vehicles, too), it seems like a very fine distinction. The law would seem to ban handheld computers being used as navigation aids, too, or GPS devices with games, and very soon, nearly all cell phones.

dakar

Now would this apply to the cop cars as well? I know here in WI just about every cruiser has a full terminal in it (complete with a low band RF feed back to the cop shop).

JRW

I don't know about CA's new statute and if law enforcement vehicles would be exempt, however, in MN the statute covering TV's (or computer screens) etc, in the front seat area specifically exludes law enforcement vehicles. I would imagine that most states have a similar exemption for their cops as well.

MN Statute 169.471 Subdivision 1 (1)

For those curious about laws in MN, aka "The Land Where Nothing Is Allowed", check out:

http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/

Mostwanted

we use laptops with navigation software to get us from job to job. It's easier than fumbling with a fold out map, or flipping through pages in a map book

Haulin_in_Dixie

A lot of the larger trucking companies have gone to computer communications. Got to be a varience someplace. The trucks are using them for dispatch, GPS, communications, always on.

j-fox

The good people of California need to vote.
Their perfect world AIN'T gonna happen.

Robert Rausch

The Good People of California ARE voting, it is just that they have been outvoted by tens of Millions of people from other places who came here and who are all voting the Socialist Democrat ticket. There, maybe that won't be deleted.

jrs_dodge_diesel

I see how that law can and can't work. People with a reasonable, valid use for them (like Mostwanted said) should be able to use them. However people who use them for watching movies and playing games and the like should not. A car or truck should be used for getting from point A to B, haul a load, or whatever. They should not be a entertainment center on wheels. That's just stupid and an accident waiting to happen.

Badunit

I have to side with the state on this one as it pertains to the driver. Anything that takes a driver's eyes and/or attention off the road for more than a second or so is a bad thing. That means video screens, cell phones, and even old fashioned paper and pencil for writing down notes. At least with your radio/cd player you can watch the road while you're fiddling with it (and it doesn't take much attention, like a cell phone conversation does). Those screens where you have to type data in or use a touch screen to enter information and especially when there is something to be read (like a text message) are very dangerous to use when driving. Most people leave a second or two between them and the vehicle in front. If you are reading a text message or trying to figure out a map display that 1-2 seconds (and more) will pass before you even look up. I'd like all those things banned while driving. I don't care how much people have come to rely on them, they are bad news for everyone else on the road. I fully support the use of them while parked, just not while driving.

MnTom

Some things to keep in mind..........At 55mph you are covering 88 feet per second. If you take your eyes off the road for two seconds you travelled slightly more than 1/2 of a football field. Studies have shown it takes on the average 1.3 seconds to view the LEFT hand mirror. It takes an average of 2.4 seconds to view the RIGHT hand mirror. These times I remember from my truck driving days. MOST people it is not a big deal.........but, there are some that can't see what is in front of them even when they look at it. Too many people are trying to use the vehicle for a rolling office. These are the ones the law is trying to stop. They THINK they can "multi-task" when behind the wheel. Just about all of us have seen the driver with a cell phone glued to their ear and had a hard time keeping it in one lane.
Tom