Audio By Carbonatix

Nathaniel Porter was driving in California when a police officer pulled him over. Why? For holding his cellphone. Porter argued that he just needed to see the navigation app (such as Google Maps or Apple Maps): he wasn’t texting or even making a phone call. The officer hit him with a $158 fine anyway.

Porter contested the ticket and a lower court ruled that “merely observing GPS directions on the phone does not constitute the kind of active use or manipulation to trigger an infraction.” But the first court may have been a bit hasty.

California upholds ticket for holding phone for navigation

The court was referring to a 2016 California statue, drivers can only access their phones “hands free.” Using a single swipe–say to open a voice-activated navigation app–is still allowed. But tapping or typing is not. The statute specified that phones have become “pocket-sized computers.” So it specified that the law applied to functions beyond just calling and texting. But that’s not all. The 2016 law added that drivers must be using a phone mount, not holding the device.

When a second court, a California appeals court, reviewed the case it made a completely different decision. Porter had to pay.

The appellate court wrote: “When legislators adopted the current state law prohibiting drivers from ‘operating’ a cellphone while driving, they did so ‘to reduce distracted driving resulting from advancements in modern phones and to encourage drivers to keep their eyes on the road,’…Allowing a driver to hold a phone and view a mapping application, even if not touching the phone’s screen, would be contrary to the Legislature’s intent.”

So there you have it. If you live in California and aren’t casting all apps–such as navigation–to your infotainment with CarPlay/Android Auto, invest in a phone mount. And if you don’t live in California, you’ll want to check your local laws carefully before reaching for your phone.

I’d like to applaud Jeep for building a rail the length of its Wrangler dashboard which aftermarket companies can engineer phone mounts for. Who wants to constantly fuss with a suction cup falling off their windshield anyway? But the real winners are European automakers offering entry-level vehicle trims with an extra-sturdy phone mount instead of a big, distracting infotainment screen. Even with U.S. laws requiring backup cameras, we should have a good, OEM-engineered phone mount atop every dasbhoard.