A well-meaning law, yes, but one that just misses the mark. I refer to, of course (as if you have any idea what I’m talking about), the Road User Amendment Rule 2009 in New Zealand. It would make it illegal to use a cellphone as a navigation device while inside a car.

The problem with that law, as I see it from the other side of the world in a “All Your Oil Are Belong to U.S.” t-shirt (it had much more of an impact in 2004, admittedly), is that is still permits you to use a cellphone, provided it’s in a cradle, to make and receive phone calls. Oh, and you can use stand-alone GPS devices.

So that means you can’t use a phone to do turn-by-turn, but you can use a stand-alone device. That doesn’t make much sense to me, especially if the goal of the law is to prevent accidents caused by distracted driving.

You also can’t use a phone to check e-mail, read Web sites, or anything like that. So it’s more of an anti-phone law than anything else.

And just if you can any faith in this post, here’s my knowledge of New Zealand: I’ve heard of the University of Waikato; I know the All Blacks are traditionally really, really good; and Russell Crowe is probably the most famous “kiwi” on Planet Earth.

via SlashGear