The weighty tome, catchily titled "Visual-Manual NHTSA Driver Distraction Guidelines for In-Vehicle Electronic Devices" is aimed at car makers, and sets out the (for now voluntary) criteria for the use of electronic devices.
Amongst a long list of recommendations including positioning of displays, access to services such as telephony, internet, and text based information screens, Section V.5.b also have this to say on the subject of satnav, "dynamic, continuously moving maps are not recommended."
So the NHTSA want to turn back the clock and have us return to static turn graphics instead of having your live position indicated on a moving map. Their advice goes on to say that images should be static or updated no more than once every few seconds.
Sensible safety based idea or more evidence of nanny state? One thing is for sure, this may be voluntary now, but it would only take a few law suits in this famously litigious country to make this stuff mandatory.
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/