Toyota Prius Driver Pulled Over for Starlink Dish on the Hood, Surprised

[TruckElectric]

The weekend is here but, if you were hoping for a short break from stupid, absolutely senseless stuff, you were wrong. The California Highway Patrol has a new PSA of sorts for drivers, and it involves stating the obvious: don’t put satellite dishes on the hood of your moving car.

This should be common sense. After all, if you strap stuff to your hood or against the windshield, you obstruct visibility and, one could argue, visibility is essential to not getting into crashes. But for one Toyota Prius driver, this needed to be stated out loud.

Jokes aside, this is a serious safety hazard, which is why the CHP is posting about it on social media in the first place. It has nothing to do with online shaming or cracking jokes, and everything to do with being responsible for the sake of safety.

This man was not: he strapped a Starlink satellite dish to the hood of his red Prius and, when asked if it did not hinder visibility when driving, he actually replied with “only when I make right turns.” According to CNBC, he also told the deputies that he runs his business out of his car, so he needs Wi-Fi service wherever his trips might take him. He was ticketed for a moving violation and, hopefully, the deputies had him remove the satellite dish from its location before letting him go.

“Yes, it is in fact illegal to mount a satellite dish to the hood of your vehicle, obstructing your view under section 26708(a)(2) of the California Vehicle Code,” the CHP says. Because it clearly needs saying. This also applies to stuff like “hang[ing] things from your rear view mirror, mount[ing] a GPS or cell phone in an unapproved location on your windshield, or display[ing] a handicap placard while the vehicle is in motion under this section.”

CHP - Antelope Valley
on Friday
"Sir I stopped you today for that visual obstruction on your hood. Does it not block your view while driving? Motorist: Only when I make right turns...." ?‍Yes, it is in fact illegal to mount a satellite dish to the hood of your vehicle, obstructing your view under section 26708(a)(2) of the California Vehicle Code. You also may not hang things from your rear view mirror, mount a GPS or cell phone in an unapproved location on your windshield, or display a handicap placard while the vehicle is in motion under this section. It's about safety folks. These are the real stories of the Highway Patrol. Safe travels everyone.
? Credit Officer T. Caton

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SOURCE: AUTOEVOLUTION

 

[Red61224]

As soon as you said: Prius Driver it explained it all. ?

Like everyone knows to put those darn things on the roof and inside of an enclosed egg. Gees.

 

[CyberMoose]

While I've definitelty thought about this for the Cybertruck, I was thinking of attaching it on a roof rack for when i'm camping in the middle of no where with no signal, so people can still contact me if i'm needed.

 

[TruckElectric]

As soon as you said: Prius Driver it explained it all. ?

Like everyone knows to put those darn things on the roof and inside of an enclosed egg. Gees.

Starlink does not make a portable unit, yet. My guess the reason the Prius driver chose Starlink over Dish is the internet bandwidth

While I've definitelty thought about this for the Cybertruck, I was thinking of attaching it on a roof rack for when i'm camping in the middle of no where with no signal, so people can still contact me if i'm needed.

Starlink is planning a mobile unit for large trucks(as in Tesla Semi) and RV's.

 

[CyberMoose]

Yes and we'll all have to wait for that mobile version. not exactly sure how well it worked for the prius driver since starlink isn't supposed to work if you move your terminal.

At the same time, I'm really hoping that the 5g network expands a lot and that the upcoming might motivate companies to offer more competitive plans.

The way I see it is if people can get starlink for a reasonable price, some people might not even a phone plan at all.

If I can have Starlink on my Cybertruck parked in front of my home, with wifi extenders to make sure I have a good signal everywhere in my house, I would also have it while i'm driving, I have wifi at work, there is wifi in a lot of restaurants and malls. I could eliminate my home internet and phone plan if I wanted to and then I could just get a phone number through something like skype.

With a push from starlink, and 5g showing that it could actually replace home internet with enough coverage. I'm hoping we see some awesome simplification coming in the next few years which might force companies to reduce prices. As someone that's traveled to lots of different countries, North American prices for internet and cell phone planes are beyond unreasonable.

 

[DMC-81]

Apparently the Prius driver already tried turning right against an obstructed view judging by the damage to the passenger side of the car. Lol.

 

[TruckElectric]

Yes and we'll all have to wait for that mobile version.

I'm thinking by the time you get your CT the mobile version shouldn't be too far behind.

not exactly sure how well it worked for the prius driver since starlink isn't supposed to work if you move your terminal.

Was thinking the same thing but I doubt the driver would have gone to all that trouble if it didn't work.

The way I see it is if people can get starlink for a reasonable price, some people might not even a phone plan at all.

The only way to give up your cell phone plan is to get VoIP.

I could eliminate my home internet and phone plan if I wanted to and then I could just get a phone number through something like skype.

Skype or Google. I've had a Google VoIP number for at least 7 years and it's free. When I got mine you could pick the area code you wanted. You just have to have a Google e-mail to get it. Also free text. I think cell phone providers were still charging extra for text when I got mine, not sure if they still do as I haven't kept up with it.

They have steadily improved on the text over the years. Now you can send pics when I first got it it was text only.

North American prices for internet and cell phone planes are beyond unreasonable.

Depends on where you live I guess. I could get 500 Mbps for around $80.00 a month. Not too bad.

 

[CyberMoose]

Depends on where you live I guess. I could get 500 Mbps for around $80.00 a month. Not too bad.

The current unlimited data plans that I have found are really good while you are under the limit for max speed. Once you go past that limit and your speed is reduced, a lot of users are reduced to ~500kbps. That's not enough to stream and it can barely play a game online.

I'm holding out for when 5g reaches my area and data plans don't cap out at such low usage. I can get it for $80 a month too but after 30gb I would be reduced, and it would cost $175 a month to get 100gb before it's reduced. Not really something i'd want to switch my home internet to. If my friend and I decide we're going to buy a new game to play together online, a single big damge download could be over 100gb. So not only would a new game possibly cap me by itself but if it's more than 100gb it might take a day just to finish the download after it caps.

 

[Crissa]

Skype pushes worms that intercept your wifi handling and that's not cool.

-Crissa