Decriminalizing the GPS

You may be a GPS scofflaw and not even know it.

California is one of only two states — Minnesota is the other — where a driver can be fined for mounting a GPS navigation device on the windshield of his or her car. That’s because state law prohibits mounting anything on the windshield that can block a driver’s view, save for a few, very specific exceptions (including rearview mirrors, toll-payment transponders and stickers such as parking passes, oil-change reminders etc.)

The penalty for violating this draconian statute is a $108 fine.
A bill on its way to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk would decriminalize such behavior, and not just for medical purposes.

Authored by Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach), SB 1567 adds portable GPS devices to the list of permitted  windshield obstructions, providing they’re placed within very specific parameters.
How specific? The bill says the device can be mounted “in the 7-inch square in the lower corner farthest removed from the driver or in the 5-inch square in the lower corner nearest the driver.”

Such precision led columnist Gordon Dillow of the libertarian Orange County Register to opine that if the law passes, GPS users shouldn’t “leave home without [a] tape measure.”

Oropeza contends her bill, which passed the Assembly this week without a dissenting vote, would make driving safer by allowing motorists who can’t afford factory-installed GPS devices to avoid getting lost without taking their eyes too far off the road. The bill, written in cooperation with the California Highway Patrol, says a windshield-mounted GPS can only be used to provide directions — not to watch videos, read streaming news or, presumably, view slide shows of your vacation photos.

The CHP, by the way, officially has no position on the legislation. The bill is backed by the state’s car dealers, according to Oropeza, as well as the watchdog group Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety and the California Space Authority, which represents satellite makers and other aerospace companies.

The governor also hasn’t revealed where he stands on the bill, which would take effect Jan 1 if it becomes law.

-- Martin Zimmerman

Photo of Dash Navigation Inc. GPS device from Bloomberg News

Comments

[Jason K]

this is stupid

[Felipe]

Anybody who thinks this is stupid is STUPID! Important that safety comes first and that drivers are not distracted by cellphones and mp3 players or on board video. GPS is everywhere so why outlaw the usage of GPS devices. If it will save time gas and maybe lives then that is positive for all of us.

[Alan Browne]

I was in CA last week and stopped a cruiser in a parking lot near SFO and asked if it was illegal to mount a GPS on a suction cup in the window.

"Nah, no problem," said the cop while his partner nodded in agreement with him...

[shdwsclan]

What about the people driving volvos and audis where the screen slides up....or what about the GM heads up display....

[Ryan]

A law preventing drivers from obscuring their visibility of the road in front of them with a distracting, interactive display? Absurd! Oh wait....no, just inconvenient--maybe. When I bought my girlfriend a new Garmin nuvi 760, it was pretty simple to use the included suction cup mount with the dashboard disk to mount it solidly to the center console, not blocking her view through the windshield at all. I'm sure not all dashboard configurations are as accomodating as her 2004 Toyota Camry's is, but such is life. I think it's not a terrible idea to make sure there are standards with regard to driver visibility, to promote safety on the roads.

@Felipe: I don't think you can expect a random officer to know every relevant state law or policy. I doubt "but a random cop told me it was okay" would hold up in court if you were fighting a ticket. It's up to us to know the laws.

[Jim]

Why not get one of those mat/beanbag things that sit on your dashboard from Amazon or any other store and put the GPS on that? Most major GPS manufacturers make them so you could probably order one from their websites as well.

[LinkN]

I have a GPS device and it says in several places on the box and in the instructions that mounting on the windshield in CA is not allowed by law. So if you bought one, this should be obvious (if you read the instructions).
I thought at first this was a dumb rule. Until I was at a red light and next to me was a roadster. It had a GPS on the windsheld, a big sticker on the top part of the window, papers and stuff on the top of the dashboard and a electronic toll device in the middle of the windshield. I thought to myself, how much window is left for that guy to see through??? So maybe it's not such a bad rule.

[non-stupid]

NOT JUST FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES haha, do drugs.

[Roger]

So... Flip the mount and attach it to the top of the dash. ;)

[Chris]

The big issue in Minnesota isn't so much the GPS mounting but the law also encompasses toll passes, like the I-pass, that can't be mounted in your windshield. This is a HUGE thing for out of state drivers as our I-passes are second nature to us and not something we even think about, till we get pulled over and fined for something that is used in a dozen other states.

[Nester-san]

Maybe if you people actually learned to drive you would be concerned about the foolishness. Anyone who use a GPS while driving should have their license revoked for incompetence and stupidity.

God.. What a country of PC rejects...

[Jack]

please restore private property rights. this crap is nothing but a government power/money grab. more than bureacrats who dream up these draconian rules i hate the people who support this kind of fascist legislation.

[auto parts carms]

yes, safety comes first. It is a actually good that the government authorities are doing their job.

[Pev]

> please restore private property rights. this crap is nothing
> but a government power/money grab.
As someone that's been knocked off my motorcycle by someone pulling out of a junction who didn't see me due to a GPS obscuring his view of me riding towards him, I'd like to suggest you change your perspective and get a grip on the fact that safety regulations are generally designed to keep people safe.

~Pev

[DavidB]

What IS it about about you idiots that gets you all upset about laws passed to regulate you from being so stupid? If CA drivers weren't so stupid and/or inattentive to their driving in the first place, your lawmakers wouldn't need to pass such laws.

And if you don't like the laws your legislature is passing, perhaps you should consider adjusting your voting habits in general to elect some lawmakers who won't be getting in your knickers for every little stupid act you perform eh?

[donee]

Hi All,

Whelp, I was recently ticketed in Itasca, Illionos for having a EEE PC on the dashboard of my Prius. The blockage of vision due to EEE PC is tiny compared to these suction mounts, or dashboard mounted GPS units. Also, the blocage is off to the left, and there is no blockage long the path of the car. While with the GPS units blocage is to the right, where a pedestrian might be. The EEE PC screen sticks up above the dashboard by about 1/2 of its height, about 4 inches.

I think the center dashboard, or windshield mounted GPS units truely represent a hazard. Which is why I put the EEE PC off to the left of my seated postion, along the A pilar, and clear of the A pilar Airbag.

Reviewing the Law in Illinois, the line "materially obstructs vision" is used. Now Materially is defined as "significantly". GPS units suction mounted do significantly obstruct vision.

So, Minesota and California may be the only two states that specifically call out suction mounted devices, but they are not the only two states where they are apparently illegal. Indeed, even the dashboard mounted devices are illegal here in Illinois, if the thing sticks up above the line of sight to the roadway, from the drivers position, and blocks any view of the right side of the road (pedestrian/bycyclists).

[GPSdriver]

It's a good idea to keep anything from blocking vision. But I think the GPS systems are here to stay. The article says the you are allowed to mount a gps in a 7" square furthest from the driver to the right side. I think that would be a bad idea. The driver would spend a lot of time looking to the right and focusing on the gps system. I would pick the 5 inch square nearest the driver to mount the gps.

[Outlaw284]

"Maybe if you people actually learned to drive you would be concerned about the foolishness. Anyone who use a GPS while driving should have their license revoked for incompetence and stupidity

Well you have just made a staement that proves your stuipidity. I drive truck in all 48 states and my GPS has helped me out a lot. I don't know every street in every town or how to get there. not to mention the money it has saved me that i don't have to spend trying to call people to find out where they are and than getting directions that are for a car not a truck.
If you are putting it in your line of site you should get a ticket but otherwise it is a stupid law ans should be removed.

[Owl Creek Observer]

We live in Illinois and we used a GPS for the first time to drive to Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. We make that trip about once a year and it's always a hassle finding our way in and out. The GPS made it a breeze with the gadget's voice telling us the distance to the next turn, which side of the freeway we needed to be on and when to turn. I think GPS units will soon be like microwave ovens -- we'll wonder how we ever got along without them.

I'm glad to see that both California and Minnesota are taking steps to eliminate their misguided ban on windshield mounts for these things. The thing is not a distraction, it's a valuable tool.

This is a case where a few nitwit politicians decided that they'd prefer having drivers looking down at their consoles at highway speeds than putting their GPS units up where they can just glance at them as needed.

[John]

Can anybody tell me if it is legal to mount a Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS with 3.5 inch LCD screen on a California registered and driven mini-van ON THE DASHBOARD of a 1995 Olds Silhouette. . The dash is the deepest I have ever seen in any van.
Thank you