No Google Glass while driving?

Well, folks you better check on the legalities of Driving while wearing the wearable computer-Google Glass. It still hasn’t completed its foray into the consumer market and it is already in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Abadie in a soup

In San Diego country, on a very busy freeway, 44-year-old, Cecilia Abadie, got a ticket for speeding when she was stopped midway on the Interstate 15 by a Highway patrol Officer in California. Cecilia lives in Temecula and is employed at a golf supplies store in San Diego.

The internet savvy Abadie quickly reached out to the online public and posted a note"A cop just stopped me and gave me a ticket for wearing Google Glass while driving! ... Is Google Glass illegal while driving or is this cop wrong??? Any legal advice is appreciated."

According to the CHP’s statement given on Wedenesday , the ticket was served because Abadie had violated the California Vehicle Code 27602 that specifies that it is illegal to "drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at a point forward of the back of the driver''s seat, or is operating and the monitor, screen, or display is visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle."

The authorities say

The CHP officials feel that Abadie’s ticket may be the first of its kind that involved Google Glass.

At this, Google was forced to clarify the stance and the authorities said that they considered driving as paramount and the Google Glass was just to keep the wearer have a make contact with the world. It was certainly not meant to distract the driver from the important task at hand.

No directive has been issued to the patrolling officers regarding the Google Glass but according to CHP spokesman Jake Sanchez, in the San Diego office, careful driving on the streets is a must. He gave his viewpoint on the issue stating "Anything that takes your attention away from driving -- putting on makeup, eating food, talking to a passenger, watching a video, talking on the phone -- is dangerous.”

He also felt that it was the decision of the individual officer whether the driver needs to be charged with distracted driving and offered a ticket."It''s every officer''s own judgment on whether the law has been violated," Sanchez said.

Well, the internet post by Abadie had collected about 200 comments out of which many insist that she needs to take a stand in the Courts

"Please please please, fight this in court. We need to get a ruling on this," read a post.

Speculating whether the judge is a “technology lover” Abadie states, "It''s all in how a judge will interpret it and I suspect their love or hate and understanding of the technology might help or the opposite.”

Originally published on 2013-10-31.