The Apple Watch. Is it a watch or an extension of a mobile phone? And, can you use it while driving? Australian site CarAdvice has done a little check on whether or not it’s illegal to use the high-tech wristwatch when on the road in the country. According to their findings, well, it depends.
Different Australian states have different rulings to determine the final verdict it seems. Here’s what has been found, though. In Victoria, using an Apple Watch is indeed illegal – if the Apple Watch is being used as a mobile phone, drivers can be fined a higher amount – up to AUD$455 (RM1,341).
In Western Australia and South Australia, the Apple Watch is classified as a Visual Display Unit (VDU). The law prohibits the operation of a VDU while the vehicle is in motion or “stationary but not parked,” and if the screen is on and is visible to the driver during driving, that’s breaching the law, which in turn means it’s illegal.
Over in the Northern Territory, while there isn’t any legislation around the Apple Watch, the police has the legal right to pull a driver over for “not taking due care” and is “distracted” while driving. In essence, the police can construe this as a violation of the law, so it’s a little mixed there.
The only state where it is legal, sort of, to use an Apple Watch is Queensland. While it’s against the law to use a mobile phone on the road, Queensland Road Rules do not apply to a smart watch. However, like the Northern Territory, the popo has the right to stop drivers if they become distracted, do not “have proper control” over the vehicle, or drive erratically due to the smart watch.
Now this is all quite interesting. Who would have thought the use of a watch on the roads would be illegal?
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Actually this kinda makes sense because to take a look at a watch you either have to look down to your hand, and take your eyes off the road, or bring your hand in front of your face, which obstructs your view. Even my old school casio watch (basic needle watch, not digital) requires me to be distracted if I want to look at it.
Aussie laws are very strict I see. Must remember this if driving there.
Just wondering, if the big screen on the centre of the car’s dashboard is showing things sync’ed from your mobile phone, wouldn’t that make it a VDU too? Let’s face it, a lot of cars have these big screens & they all can show whats on your mobile phone – even videos playing on it. Do Aussies have to switch off that screen when driving? But what if your A/C controls and basically everything that controls the car is on that screen too (the Tesla Model S comes to mind), how do you control the AC if the screen has to be switched off?
Interacting with the screen to change radio channel and climate control is fine.
Not an expert in vehicle design law, but the most important specifications are set out in the Australian Design Rules, all importers have to do custom work on imports to comply with them. So the car can’t obviously do something illegal, for example in the news recently, the Mustang from the US has an automatic burnout mode which has to be disabled when imported to pass Australian ADR requirements because in law allowing tyres to slip is considered “not being in full control of your vehicle” and thus a traffic offense. There are ADR rules around what screens can and cannot show, and the ADR would be in sync with what the traffic laws are, so I doubt you could break the law even if you wanted to… unless you were driving some really old vehicle with cutting edge technology at the time imported before the rules were updated or something. Again, like the article says, the law is very broad – “distracted driving” can be cited, regardless of what the distraction is.
It’s a combination of self regulation as well, and logic… guidelines like “not allow driver to be distracted” that can be interpreted very broadly, and if the industry fails to self regulate properly, the government will step in to regulate for them and they don’t want that to happen. So it’s not unusual for manufacturers to impose higher safety standards than what is called for to avoid the possibility. Don’t think you will find any screens that will play video or games…
Apple watch just same as lousy iwatch.
Kudos to the Australians for having well thought out reasonings.
In Msia, the govn will not have such well thought out laws.
If a police sees a driver using a smartwatch on Msian roads, it would very much depend on his mood on that day whether he would pull you over.
If PDRM gets strict on people using SW while driving, you can bet politicians from the “other side” protest and demo cuz not allowing use of tech lah, going back to stone age lah, PDRM kuno lah, apa salah saya lah, etc, etc.
Better do hudud. If caught using SW, terus chop the hand.