iPhone 5 Release Date: Siri is Illegal to Use While Driving in California
Californians excited to spout out a whole bunch of commands to their iPhone 4S Siri system should be careful because citizens of the state might be fined for doing so.
MercuryNews was informed by the San Jose Police department that using Siri while driving is illegal.
“It’s legal to talk to Siri, as long as the phone’s not in your hand,” said San Jose police Lt. Chris Monahan to the news outlet. “But if you have to push the phone to activate her, or if you ask for directions and she puts them on her screen for you to read, then California hands-free law says your breaking the law.”
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Tech site 9to5 Mac questioned this statement.
“Where it gets murky is that the iPhone is also a GPS device and it isn’t illegal to use your fingers to use GPS devices, especially one that is mounted to your dashboard. Let’s just say: keep it safe.”
Official California law states that “a person shall not drive a motor vehicle while using an electronic wireless communication device to write, send, or read a text based communication.”
The main offense for the driver is actually holding the device in their hand. This would leave GPS’s out of the equation.
California made texting illegal along with 33 other states long before technology like Siri was released.
Apple advertised Siri using a driver speaking commands into the phone which could be somewhat of a deception for places where this is illegal.
But in Apple’s Siri promotional video, the driver uses headphones to communicate.
By doing so he would not be subject to violating California law.
Siri is now available on the iPhone 4S.
