Taxi drivers are questioning why they are being made to use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, while other motorists are liable to be ticketed for screens in their cars.It is now an offence for drivers to use any hand-held devices under the Traffic Offences (Penalties) Amendment Act, 2011, or for vehicles to have a television or other screen that is visible to the driver. Cell phones stuck in crash helmets are also banned.Asked how the new legal definition of distracted driving affected taxi operators, a Ministry of Transport spokesman said: “Taxi drivers are not affected by the legislation in relation to GPS units.”Lee Tucker, of Concerned Group of Bermuda Taxi Operators, responded: “The two sides don’t add up.”Nearly ten years ago, Mr Tucker was the spokesman for the Bermuda Taxi Operations Association. That organisation unsuccessfully pleaded with Government to make GPS optional for taxi drivers.Mr Tucker questioned why, in light of the new law, taxi drivers were still being forced into driving with a screen.The new legislation makes it illegal to drive with a movie playing in your car. A first offence could see a $500 fine; second offences within two years warrant $750. Both offences also carry a possible six-month driving ban.For a third offence within two years, a driver can be fined up to $1,000 and disqualified from driving for 18 months. Points will also be deducted from licences.“We objected to GPS from the get-go because it’s distracting,” Mr Tucker said. “I’m at a loss to see why a government contradicts itself by saying you can’t use a cellular phone, but tells taxi drivers ‘you must look at a screen to get a job’. We have to take the dispatches and directions that come up on a screen. It’s outrageous.”Taxi drivers who want to pull over and check their directions have a tough time finding space on Bermuda’s roads, he added.“The new dispatching systems aren’t much bigger than a cellular phone,” Mr Tucker said. “If you get a job, you’ve got to have this thing somewhere in front of you.”Mandatory satellite navigation system has been hotly contended since GPS in taxis was first required in 2006.“It’s not a system that improves the quality of our work, or gives the passenger better service,” Mr Tucker said. “If you have a global dispatching system giving you instructions on a screen, that’s like getting a text message. Sooner or later, somebody will be killed in an accident.”Other drivers echoed Mr Tucker’s concerns.“A lot of times you have to pull over to look at it,” said a Hamilton cab driver who declined to be named.“It’s a very distracting system. As far as cell phones go, the law is a good thing. But even with GPS you end up calling people a lot of the time, because it doesn’t give you the exact place to go.”He added: “It’s just as distracting as a cell phone, probably more so. The screen really takes your view off the road, and you’ve got to push buttons. You can end up drifting when you’re on the road.”Veteran cabbie Calvin Dill agreed. “It’s the screen that’s most distracting,” he said. “I’ve been wondering, since they put that law in, if it would have an effect on drivers that use GPS. But GPS is exempt, because it isn’t hand-held.”Collision-avoidance systems are also exempt from the new law.Government’s announcement that the fines were now in effect drew swift remarks from The Royal Gazette’s online readers.“What I find interesting is that taxi drivers (some of the worst offenders on our roads in my opinion) are still allowed to use GPS units,” one wrote.He added: “Just last week a white taxi almost cleaned out my co-worker and myself as we crossed on the zebra crossing on Front Street near the Cenotaph.“The taxi driver had his head down and was fiddling with something (I assume his GPS device or radio) and didn’t see us until the very last second. This is the same crosswalk where two people have been run down within the last year.”Calling the new law “silly and unnecessary”, the reader suggested that due care regulations already covered distracted driving.