No one wants to get into trouble with the police and especially when they are travelling abroad or around the country.

 The problem is though that many of us simply don’t know what the laws are regarding particular things and this makes it particularly difficult not to break them.

For instance do you know what the law is regarding talking on the phone in every state in America? About jay walking? Do you know what weapons you’re allowed to keep in your home in the various parts of the country? What you might have been doing just fine in one part of the country for a while can suddenly become no longer acceptable and this of course can get you into trouble. Here then we will look at some ways you can avoid this being a problem when you’re next a fish out of water, just as you can help find your way around using your maps apps etc.

Apps

There are plenty of app on the Play Store that have been designed to help you keep track of the law and its changes and these range in effectiveness when it comes to ensuring you don’t make any legal faux pas. The most simple of these are the various penal code and vehicle code apps which do nothing other than to provide you with searchable databases of the various laws. These are really nothing more than e-books for your app but they are easy to search through and generally accurate and up to date. The only downside is that you need to download apps for the different places you’re in,’California Penal Code’ for instance, and that each of these are a couple of dollars. And they aren’t really designed for tourists being more suited to law students and quite wordy as a result.

One series of these apps then that you might prefer to use are the ‘DroidLaw’ apps. These apps were designed by an attorney and have a nice interface and broader use, but you can also get the main ‘DroidLaw’ app free. It’s still more for law students than travellers but it will still let you know what you need to know.      

One that is good in theory but fails in execution meanwhile is LawBuddy â?? an app that lets you select your region and then look at local laws for where you are. In concept this would be very useful, but unfortunately it freezes on many phones and force closes, while the information it gives you is just sourced from Wikipedia which you could have gotten yourself.

And that brings us on nicely to the next suggestion…

The Web

If you want to quickly check the traffic laws in a new country or state when you get there then you don’t need a flashy app as long as your browser is up and running. As with LawBuddy you could always this way just use Wikipedia, or alternatively you could look for something like Yahoo! Answers and the chances are that if you’re not sure, then other people have already asked the same question somewhere online for you to find.

A site that is particularly good for this is Just Answer, and if you find the law page for your country or state then there are many questions and answers here specific to the area of law that you can find rather quickly. And in fact for that matter you can even use any phone service that provides answers to questions and by looking for one in the area they can do the research for you even if you don’t have internet access…

Brian is a tech blogger and recommends that you use these tips to ensure you don’t get in trouble. He is currently writing for traffic lawyers and loves combining technology and law.