Apple Watch trouble for drivers?

A driver looking at an Apple Watch while stopped at a traffic light is still guilty of breaking Ontario’s distracted driving law, despite her claim she was only checking the time.

Even with its miniaturization and trendy technology, an Apple Watch is no safer “than a cellphone taped to someone’s wrist,” said a justice of the peace, while convicting a Guelph woman this month of holding or using a hand-held wireless communication device while driving.

Victoria Ambrose was stopped at a red light in Guelph in April when a University of Guelph police officer pulled her over and gave her a ticket.

Ontario amended its Highway Traffic Act in 2009 to counter distracted driving by prohibiting driving “while holding or using a hand-held wireless communication device.”

Ambrose argued this didn’t apply in her case.

Justice of the Peace Lloyd Phillipps rejected Ambrose’s testimony that, despite the multi-function of the electronic device that straps to the wrist, she was only checking the time, which requires her to tap it to activate and again to deactivate the display.

Phillipps rejected her argument the watch wasn’t connected to an external communication device and that it being on her wrist satisfies an exemption for devices securely mounted inside the vehicle.

“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,” Phillipps said.

In the end, it was not the technology that doomed Ambrose, but human failing.

“The key to determining this matter is distraction. It is abundantly clear from the evidence that Ms. Ambrose was distracted when the officer made his observations,” said Phillipps.

Ambrose was fined $400.