This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.
As most of us know, last year New Brunswick became another province to ban the use of electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle. This new distracted driving legislation was aimed at curbing the use of cell phones (and more specifically texting) while driving. However, with the introduction of this new law, it affected those who used a GPS unit in their vehicles. From Moncton, to Saint John, to Fredericton, to Miramichi, and Bathurst, everyone was affected. I thought it would be interesting to see how this new law has affected your geocaching habits while out in the wild. Since many of us might have our GPS units in hand while driving, this could feasibly be a problem should we be caught by the local RCMP.
For myself, I know that in many instances, I am a passenger in a vehicle with someone else so it hasn’t had that big of an impact on me. I have however been with other cachers who have installed mounts into their cars to prop their GPS or cell phone up while driving. I’ve been guilty a few times of continuing to hold my GPS while I drive, but I have found myself taking a bit more time to dial in a cache, figure out where it is, then drive to the destination. I also tend to not put the GPS in front of me but off to the side near my gear shift and only glance at it once in awhile. Another trick I have done is brace the GPS in between two parts of the steering wheel so the unit is directly in front of me and can be viewed with a quick nod down at the wheel. Not much different than looking down to check my speed.
In areas that I am not familiar, I have been known to program my road based GPS with my geocache locations so I can use the car based GPS to get close to a location, then park and go off road as needed. I admit that it’s been awhile since I have done this but I have found it to be very effective in areas I am unfamiliar with.
How has the new law affected you? Have you changed any of your in-car caching habits since this came out? What steps have you taken to be safer while caching with your vehicle?
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