A NJ cop–who was on assignment to enforce the state’s ban on handheld cell phones–was involved in a collision with a car whose driver was…you guessed it!..using his phone while driving. The phone-user was so distracted that he proceeded past a stop sign, and into the path of the cop’s Explorer.
Suspect his insurance agent will be having a long chat with him. In Minnesota Dairyland is the high risk pool with high rates that some end up with.
Oh, but the police were campaigning against texting while driving, not using your phone as a navigation aid!
That brings up the other unsettling thing besides using the phone while driving, using any electronic device. If the driver had been using any GPS or even the radio this could have happened. We all need to be careful fooling with any device that takes our eyes off the road.
I just read the article, AND the comments at the bottom
Apparently, some of those people are actually questioning who is at fault
It’s apparently undisputed, that the civilian blew through the stop sign. And he WAS using the phone as a GPS. Seems to me there should be no question as to who’s to blame.
Several weeks ago, I was stopped in the left turning lane. Straight ahead traffic had a green light, but I had a red left arrow. The car in front of me was stopped, and then for some reason, he proceeded to pull forward and make the left turn, even though the left arrow was still clearly red, and oncoming traffic was going pretty fast. While making his illegal turn, an oncoming driver hit him
So who’s at fault?
The guy that ran the red left arrow . . . call it running the stop light, I say
Or the guy that hit him, the one who literally had the green light, and also the right of way, I would say
@db4690, fault depends on at least a couple of things. If blame can be jointly shared in Cali, the guy that ran into the boob turning on red could share fault if he was going over the speed limit. Damage and skid mark length would determine that. The fool that turned left on red is mostly, if not completely, at fault.
you would think the gps navigation app would know where the stop sign was and know the devices speed and see that the driver was not slowing down. so I blame the app for not alerting the driver for not stopping
I hope that you are kidding with that remark.
Perhaps your GPS is different, but the three with which I am familiar simply state that the user should be aware that some of their info could be incorrect, and that traffic laws should be obeyed at all times.
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lots of new cars have collision avoidance radar so I don’t see why they cant develop infrared detectors that see stop signs and apply brakes as you decide to not stop.
Yes…perhaps in the future, but your idea does not constitute reality at this point.
I am happy my gps shows speed limit for the road I am on. Took an hour and a half to update maps just yesterday, sure stop ahead would be nice, school zone, might be nice but that seems rather impractical at this point.
Not sure how it works in your city, but ours the don’t walk signal flasses 11 times then the light turns yellow, I use it as a guide to whether I will make it through the light or not.
“the boob turning on red” abruptly made his illegal turn, giving the guy that hit him no time to avoid the collision
I suspect “the boob” may have been on the phone or otherwise distracted 
So, you think it’s okay to blame the electronic equipment, rather than poor driving skills and not paying attention to the road the surroundings . . . ?
Gimme a break
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That would make being chased by the police interesting.
A few years ago we had a Walmart tractor trailer try to drive under a railroad bridge that was at least 8 inches to low. Even if he had the vertical clearance his vehicle was far to long to safely negotiate the very sharp “Z” curve. He had passed a length and weight limits and low clearance warning sign a mile back. Another low clearance sign 1/2 mile back and the bridge it’s self has a large yellow sign with the clearance in black plus 2 flashing yellow lights. His excuse? I was following my GPS!!! I don’t want one.
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@sgtrock21 GPS is only good if you use a little good sense when you use it. re the bridge you mention,here we have a dollar store that if you use a GPS will send you over an old RR viaduct that will bottom out a semi it is clearly marked but about 6 or 8 trucks a year will try it & the same excuse the GPS told them to go that way.
You can’t fix stupid 
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We have GPS in one car and a handheld unit. Going through Atlanta, GA. at rush hour was a lot easier with GPS thanks to the unit warning which lane to be before we got to the change left or right.
Our Volvo GPS will even locate the nearest Volvo dealer should we need one.
When I use a GPS for a trip, I study a map first to get a sense of where I am going and then put the gps where I can’t see the screen and only listen to the voice prompts. Some of my children have had a GPS take them hundreds of miles out of the way because they didn’t know what way it should be taking them.
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I don’t know for sure but I suspect a programing error.
I drove from Mt Fujiyama to Yokosuka Naval Air Station in a 6x6 with the directions on a 3x5 card without making a wrong turn.That was my first time driving in Japan on the left side of the road. I don’t need no GPS…
For real, I can see that an up to date GPS can be beneficial but drivers really need to have an understanding of where they are and where they are going.
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