A cop pulled me over the other day because I was looking at my GPS on my phone while driving on the highway. I want to know how much the fine is going to be and if they can take points off my license.
The fine amount depends a lot on the country and province where you were stopped, so I can't give you an exact figure. In most of Latin America it's somewhere between 50 and 300 dollars or so, but in some places it can be quite a bit more. What is pretty universal is that they'll take points off your license or suspend your license for a while, depending on how many infractions you've accumulated and the local rules. The best thing is to check directly with your municipality or the traffic authority that gave you the ticket, because the amounts and penalties vary quite a bit.
As for GPS specifically, some places consider using it while driving falls into the same category as using your phone, others have more flexible rules if you have it mounted on the dashboard or if you have a hands-free mount. If the cop saw you holding the phone in your hand it's pretty much certain they'll fine you for that. My recommendation is that you set your route before you leave or, if you're on the highway, pull into a service station to see where you need to go. It's not worth the risk, it's dangerous and besides it ends up costing you.
It completely depends on where you got pulled over, because fines vary a ton between autonomous communities and countries. In Spain it's around €200 and they take away 3 points from your license, but if you were in Latin America things change quite a bit depending on the country. What I'd recommend is that you look up the specific regulations for the place where it happened, because each jurisdiction has its own penalties, and that way you'll know exactly how much they're gonna charge you. One trick that a lot of people don't know about: if you can prove that your GPS was already set up before you started driving and you only glanced at it briefly, some judges will reduce the fine or the points, so make sure you document how things actually were.
What the others didn't mention is that if you take screenshots of the GPS before you drive and memorize the route, you can listen to just the audio afterward without touching your phone, so you avoid the problem. But yeah, the exact fine varies a lot depending on where you live - you could call the police station or check your local traffic department's website to find out what's specific to your area, because some places dock points and others don't.
Log into answer.
