A ticket issued to a California driver for wearing Google Glass while driving her car has been dismissed. Cecilia Abadie was wearing her snazzy Google Glass glasses while driving, but the ticket was dismissed by Commissioner John Blair because there was no way to prove she was actually using the device at the time of the citation.
The glasses weren’t even the reason she was pulled over in the first place, but more of an afterthought when an officer stopped he for doing 80 MPH in a 65 MPH zone. He issued the second citation that’s the same as what drivers get for watching a video or television screen in the front of the vehicle. The speeding citation was also thrown out along with the one for wearing the Google Glass.
Abadie, who is one of 30,000 “explorers” who are testing the product, is thought to be the first person to receive a ticket for using the device so her citation being thrown out sets a precedent that other Google Glass wearers could take advantage of once the product is fully on the market. The bigger question remains as to the safety of using the glasses while behind the wheel of a car.
For their part, Google has been warning users to wear the glasses responsibly while driving, to obey the law, and to keep their attention on the road. Given how many people are guilty of texting while driving, you really wonder how many of them will turn off their glasses and just drive no matter what Google or the law says
Several states have already taken preliminary steps to ensure that no one is Googling and driving. West Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey have all introduced bills to ban wearing the device at all while driving. Nothing has passed yet, but with distracted driving such a pressing safety issue, It may turn out to be an uphill battle for Google.
Take heart, you should be able to wear your Google Glass without seeing one of these in your rearview mirror, for now…
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
