Apple markets the Apple Watch as a device that can track your fitness, provide notifications, and also act as a watch. However does checking your Apple Watch while you drive make it worthy or being considered distracted driving? That’s what a woman by the name of Victoria Ambrose has found out when a judge ruled that checking your smartwatch is no different from checking your phone.According to a report from The National Post (via 9to5Mac), Ambrose was stopped at a red light when a police officer next to her saw a glow of an electronic device (her Apple Watch).The office then claims he saw her looking up and down about four times, and when the light turned green, she did not move until the officer shone a light into her car. After which she was pulled over and given a ticket.
Ambrose argued that she was merely checking the time, but this was a notion that Justice of Peace Lloyd Phillips rejected, claiming that checking the time was done in a single moment, as opposed to multiple times as per the officer’s testimony.
He added, “Despite the Apple Watch being smaller than a cellular phone, on the evidence, it is a communication device capable of receiving and transmitting electronic data. While attached to the defendant’s wrist, it is no less a source of distraction than a cellphone taped to someone’s wrist.”
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