I just bought a GPS unit. Since I recently learned that ornaments hanging from the windshield mirror are illegal, as they obstruct the driver’s vision, I am wondering if there are any restrictions to the use of a GPS monitor and how it is mounted. I need to be able to read it, but I don’t need a ticket.
Thanks.
Two things to know
It’s always safer to check with a lawyer or the police directly, but here are two things to know. It does appear to be legal to use a mounted GPS.
http://gpstracklog.com/2012/06/windshield-mounts-illegal-in-28-states.html
On the other hand, if you get in an accident, and you were distracted by using the device, that could be a factor in the state’s decision on how they prosecute or sentence you.
http://info.libraries.vermont.gov/supct/current/eo2009-483.html
Here is an excerpt.
¶ 2. The accident occurred in the early afternoon of April 18, 2009. Defendant was traveling south on Route 5 in Dummerston at somewhere between forty and fifty miles per hour (the speed limit for this portion of Route 5 is forty miles per hour). This stretch of road is straight and relatively flat. The driver of the car immediately behind defendant’s car at the time of the accident stated in an affidavit that he observed defendant’s car swerve sharply into the shoulder of the road approximately three-and-a-half feet outside of the travel lane and hit a bicyclist who had also been traveling southbound. This witness stated that defendant was in the shoulder for approximately one or two seconds before hitting the bicyclist. At the scene, defendant told the responding officer that she was looking for a place to eat and looked down at her GPS device. When she looked up, she saw the bicyclist directly in front of her, but by then it was too late to avoid hitting him. ”
Now on a side note, if you use one of these items, and it requires you to look down at an image, stop your car, get your information, and then proceed. Because, if you hit a bicyclist, or a pedestrian, we die.
the horror
“Since I recently learned that ornaments hanging from the windshield mirror are illegal,”
what? no more dice?
are hula dancers next?
No more rosary beads, either
It’s ironic that Handicap parking placards are designed and intended to be hung from the mirror, but it’s illegal to drive off with the placard still in place.
... Yet I see people driving
… Yet I see people driving with the placard in place all the time… and I can’t count the number of times that i have seen a parking ticket on someones windshield as they are DRIVING down the road… Seriously? How can you miss that bright pink envelope right in front of you?
Somebody missed it today
In today’s intense rainstorm, I witnessed a car approaching with the pink ticket moving back and forth under the wiper.
Is GPS necessary for driving in the US?
I’m still a bit confused why most people even think a GPS unit is necessary.
We live in the US. It is very hard to get lost. There are road signs, mile markers, maps, and people to ask in all but a few remote locations that we’d never drive to anyway.
I’ve turned the wrong way on an unfamiliar road and gone a short distance before having to turn around, but that’s about the worst of it. Maps, and paying attention, serve me quite well.
My use of GPS has been forced upon me, and the talking GPS units that insist you turn around or make a left into an empty field, or recalculating…. I wanted to throw it away.
One almost-positive GPS experience was on a train from NYC to Brattleboro. The guy next to me had a new iPad and was using the GPS to track where were along the route. It was almost useful, though it did show the train going off the tracks and into rivers.
The new developments in mapping make it SO easy to get around. I can pre-drive a stretch of road, look at building fronts, and so on. I find that GPS is unnecessary to using them.
In a similar vein, I remember a few years back when the reason to get a cell phone was “in case of an emergency on the highway,” and people bought them out of fear of a late night breakdown. Very few people used them for that purpose. One doesn’t need a service contract to make an emergency call with a cellphone, but people signed up anyway, and then used the phones for emergencies such as “I’m at the store. Did you want the ripple potato chips, or the regular ones? And what sort of dip did you want?”
These devices do provide spies with our location and, in the case of the phone, a microphone and camera to keep an eye on us. And WE pay THEM for these…
I would never rely solely on GPS en route
I have GPS, but I use it pre-trip, pre-driving the roads as you put it. I especially like the satellite and street views, to identify landmarks along the road. On the very rare occasion I happen to get mixed up, I look for a safe place to pull over before perusing the screen. And no talking GPS allowed in my car…way too annoying!
GPS Confusion
My sister came to see me in Wardsboro a couple years ago. Using a Garmin, she came up the NY thruway & northway to Troy. Then NY 7 to Bennington and US 7 to Arlington.
So far, so good.
Then, Garmin took her across the Stratton-Arlington road to Wardsboro. The shortest way, for sure, but not much more than a wilderness goat-trail. When she got to me. she was crying.
Needless to say, her phone didn’t work.
They’re not all they’re cracked up to be.
However, there were times when I found mine extremely useful.
Then someone broke into my car and stole it.