Google Glass faces driving bans in states

Cecilia Abadie wears her Google Glass as she talks with her attorney outside of traffic court Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, in San Diego. When Abadie was pulled over on suspicion of speeding in October, the officer saw she was wearing Google Glass and tacked on a citation usually given to drivers who may be distracted by a video or TV screen. She pleaded not guilty to both charges on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
Cecilia Abadie wears her Google Glass as she talks with her attorney outside of traffic court Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, in San Diego. When Abadie was pulled over on suspicion of speeding in October, the officer saw she was wearing Google Glass and tacked on a citation usually given to drivers who may be distracted by a video or TV screen. She pleaded not guilty to both charges on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Lawmakers in at least six states are considering legislation that would bar motorists from using Google Glass, the eyewear device that can access the Internet and take photos with a blink.

Bills in West Virginia, Illinois and New Jersey would include Google Inc.’s glasses among hand-held mobile phones and other gadgets that are barred from use while driving. A measure in New York would make it illegal for motorists to wear Google Glass until the motor vehicle department recommends how a ban could be enforced.

Google, owner of the world’s largest search engine, has been investing in Glass because it bets consumers will shift to wireless devices that let them snap photos, check email and listen to music without smartphones or traditional computers.

Using the device while behind the wheel is just one way to use Google Glass. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, will include an application to synchronize Glass with its 2015 Genesis sedan. Pending legislation to forbid the devices’ use while driving could cramp Glass sales even as research shows it’s less distracting than smartphones and could help drivers avoid hazards.

“These ban bills could limit the marketability of Google Glass,” said Richard Bennett, a visiting scholar at the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute who co-invented Wi-Fi. “Driving is certainly one of the premier applications for Glass.”

The bills that would ban using Google Glass while driving remain in the early stages of the legislative process.

Enforcing them may prove difficult. In January, a San Diego court threw out a ticket against Cecilia Abadie, a woman who may be the first cited for wearing the device while driving. The ticket was dropped because there wasn’t proof she was using it while behind the wheel, according to The Associated Press. Her attorney said the device was not activated while Abadie was driving.

Google has hired lobbyists in states including Wyoming and Delaware. As the company mounts a fight, application developers already have created programs for using Glass while driving that can monitor speed, give directions and detect fatigue - all while drivers’ eyes are looking at the road rather than at a phone or speedometer.

Most of the bills put Google Glass in the same category as texting while driving, which has been the centerpiece of a campaign by the U.S. Transportation Department to cut down on distractions in the car. Fortyone states ban texting behind the wheel, and 12 don’t allow hand-held mobile phone use. Hands-free calling and texting, which Google Glass can do, is typically allowed. The device’s ability to deliver videos and other potential distractions has some lawmakers worried it may be even more dangerous.

“You can be watching cat videos driving down the road and laughing at them,” West Virginia Delegate Gary Howell, a Republican who introduced a bill, said by phone. “When you’re rolling down the road in a ton-and-a-half of metal at 65 miles per hour, you can do some serious damage.”

Anna Richardson White, a spokesman for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, said the company is entering the political debate as it works to convince policymakers that Glass isn’t dangerous.

“Technology issues are a big part of the current policy discussion in individual states, and we think it’s important to be a part of those discussions,” she said by email. “We find that when people try it for themselves, they better understand the underlying principle that it’s not meant to distract but rather to connect people more with the world around them.”

Google’s website lists the following advice for Glass users: “As you probably know, most states have passed laws limiting the use of mobile devices while driving any motor vehicle, and most states post those rules on their department of motor vehicles websites. Read up and follow the law. Above all, even when you’re following the law, don’t hurt yourself or others by failing to pay attention to the road.”

The enforcement issue led New York Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, a Democrat, to introduce a measure that would require the state Department of Motor Vehicles to recommend how policec an ensure driver compliance with a law banning use of the device.

“We know how hard it is to enforce texting,” Crespo said. “Imagine how much harder it will be to enforce something as inconspicuous as Google Glass.”

Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, said Arkansas has no specific law that bars the use of Google Glass while driving.

However, Sadler said a driver using Google Glass could be cited for careless and prohibited driving under Arkansas Code Annotated 21-51-104, which prohibits drivers from operating vehicles “in any manner when the driver is inattentive and such inattention is not reasonable and prudent in maintaining vehicular control.”

Jackie McGinnis, a New York Motor Vehicles Department spokesman, said the department hasn’t determined whether Google Glass is a distraction.

Jibo He, a psychology professor at Wichita State University in Kansas, was among several thousand selected as early users for Glass. He conducted a study using Google Glass and a driving simulator that found it’s less distracting than a smartphone because drivers don’t have to look down, he said by phone. He is creating applications that detect fatigue and automatically limit the programs that can be used while driving. Hyundai has said the Genesis will work with Glass for only pre-drive operations.

“Whether Glass is safe or not depends on how you use it,” He said. “If you use it to detect hazards or fatigue, then it’s beneficial. It you use it for a phone or texting, it may be distracting.”

A Wyoming bill banning use of Google Glass while driving is premature, said state Sen. Leland Christensen, a Republican.

“This may be one of those places where we may not want to close the door,” he said. “We don’t know where this tool is headed and where they’re going with it.” Information for this article was contributed by Alan Ohnsman and Brian Womack of Bloomberg News and by Frank Fellone of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Business, Pages 25 on 03/03/2014

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