Already? Man fined for using Apple Watch while driving.
The Apple Watch isn't even available in stores yet, and a Canadian man has been fined $120 for using it while driving. The case could have wide repercussions regarding how and when wearable use of the Apple Watch is permitted.
The Apple Maps app is displayed on an Apple Watch during an event in San Francisco.
Eric Risberg/AP/File
That didn't take long.
The Apple Watch isn't even available in stores yet—only early adopters who preordered have one—and a Canadian man has already been ticketed for using it while driving. Maybe he should have waited for CarPlay?
Details come from Canada's CTV News, which reports that Quebec man Jeffrey Macesin is facing a $120 fine for using the new wonder wearable computer to change songs while behind the wheel. Upon observing Macesin use the device, a patrolman pulled him over and issued the fine, citing language in the Quebec Highway Safety Code which states “no person may, while driving a road vehicle, use a hand-held device that includes a telephone function.”
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Obviously, we don't know whether Macesin was changing songs, checking his heart rate, or was receiving a simple, heartfelt message from a loved one—because the Apple Watch can do all of those things. But he's currently fighting the fine, based on the fact that the Apple Watch is more akin to a Bluetooth headset than actual phone. A similar case involving a woman wearing a Google Glass eyepiece was dismissed because the courts determined it had no way of knowing whether the driver in question was actively using the device while driving.
Regardless of the outcome of this latest case, it could have wide repercussions regarding how and when wearable use of the Apple Watch is permitted. Stay tuned.