Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

[NUKe]

SAt Navs don't cause accidents.
Only the people who don't use them properly.

[pwa]

One thing I tend to do with satnavs is get the thing to show me an overview of the route it proposes to send me on before I start off. Sometimes I have a preference that the satnav doesn't share and I change the route. I also like to get the gist of the route in my head.

My Garmin device loves to tell me to turn left as I'm approaching a roundabout, even if I' turning right at the roundabout. It interprets the slight left steer as I enter the roundabout as a left turn. My missus likes to follow the words and gets led astray by that sort of thing. It also tells me to "in a quarter of a mile turn right", but the "quarter of a mile" in question can be as little as 100 metres.

On the rare occasion that I misinterpret what the satnav wants me to do, and end up in the wrong lane, common sense dictates that I stick with the turn I am doing if a sudden change would cause problems for others around me. Better by far to go the wrong way in one piece than crash by trying to go the right way.

[[XAP]Bob]

On the rare occasion that I misinterpret what the satnav wants me to do, and end up in the wrong lane, common sense dictates that I stick with the turn I am doing if a sudden change would cause problems for others around me. Better by far to go the wrong way in one piece than crash by trying to go the right way.

That's not limited to misinterpreting the satnav...
That's true in any situation

[Cyril Haearn]

Another problem is such devices being placed where they obstruct the driver's view. I had a close call once when CBDR held a car behind my rear-view mirror for several seconds, so I dread to imagine the effects of a second blind spot. (Yes, my head moves a lot more when driving since then, and yes it should have before.) I wonder sometimes why some satnavs come with suckers - the one time I used one there was no surface in the car that was smooth, accessible and safe enough for it to hang from. the device was handy for its advertised purpose, though.

Satnav for suckers right?

CBDR is interesting, I understood it immediately, there is a recent thread here about a junction in the New Forest, when motors approach at speed x and cyclists at speed y, cbdr occurs, - 99

While driving I use all mirrors and look too, the brain performs a trig calculation to locate moving things

[Cunobelin]

I can only agree how dangerous these devices are.

Mine simply states "Your destination is on the left"

1. On Sunday I was at a hotel in Stevenage...... it totally failed to direct me around the car park and find me a parking space. I actually had to take responsibility and drive

2. On Tuesday when I came home, it totally failed to direct me to turn left and then stop before I drove into my living room... I have to decide to stop on. my own

[Cunobelin]

More seriously there are a couple of issues with Sat Navs

When people use them sensibly, drive with care and attention, these don't feature, but when you get those who sheepishly follow the SatNav despite the local observations, you get the problems in the original post

One of the issues is theat most mapping is derived from the Ordnance Survey

They have multiple road classifications, but SatNavs have a few.... so often what is clearly an impossible road on an OS Map becomes a "passable road" on a SatNav





However ask yourself... would anyone with half a brain really consider these viable roads?

Then there is the blindly followed "next left" (mentioned above) when people blindly do that without any conscious thought

Surely you can tell that this was NOT a road?



Equally does this really look like a road?





The sad fact is thatches are stupid incompetent drivers who are failing to take the most basic observations and then trying to scapegoat the SatNav for their failures

[squeaker]

I rely on the voice prompts. I normally use navigation on my phone which I then 'turn off' and throw on the dash.
It continues giving instructions; "turn left in 400 yards onto Lord St" etc which I find a great help.
I still do the actual driving, looking at road signs etc etc and I honestly can't remember the last time it gave me duff information.

Me too*: much less stressful than SWMBO+map

* that's using Google maps on an Android phone: previous experience with a Windows phone was not so good...

[pwa]

Searching back in my memory, I must confess that I did once turn left into a one way street, going in the wrong direction, whilst trying to follow satnav. A lady pointed out my mistake, and I did say sorry. I explained that I'd been trying to follow the satnav, but I also said what was obvious: that I had been watching the satnav too much and had paid too little attention to the road signage. No excuses. You live and learn.

Going back further in time, to the 1970s, I remember my Mum turning the wrong way down a one way street while listening to my Dad who was looking at a street map. Same blunder, different technology.

There is I think a conflict between navigation, whatever the technology, and observing the road around you. Navigation does take a bit of your attention. I'm not sure I have a completely satisfactory answer to that conflict. Even listening to a passenger giving directions is a bit of a distraction.

[rmurphy195]

I can only agree how dangerous these devices are.

Mine simply states "Your destination is on the left"

1. On Sunday I was at a hotel in Stevenage...... it totally failed to direct me around the car park and find me a parking space. I actually had to take responsibility and drive

2. On Tuesday when I came home, it totally failed to direct me to turn left and then stop before I drove into my living room... I have to decide to stop on. my own

Heaven help us when self-driving cars rely on the sat-nav ....

[[XAP]Bob]

I can only agree how dangerous these devices are.

Mine simply states "Your destination is on the left"

1. On Sunday I was at a hotel in Stevenage...... it totally failed to direct me around the car park and find me a parking space. I actually had to take responsibility and drive

2. On Tuesday when I came home, it totally failed to direct me to turn left and then stop before I drove into my living room... I have to decide to stop on. my own

Heaven help us when self-driving cars rely on the sat-nav ....

Since they'll use it as *one* input they'll get the advantages without the disadvantages of lack of attention elsewhere.

[gaz]

What's to be done?

Well, it appears the thing to be done is to extend the 30mph limit that starts 188m west of the junction to a point 380m west of the junction.

https://consultations.kent.gov.uk/gf2.t ... _30mph.pdf

That'll fix it .

[Bonefishblues]

I've just had a virtual wander around those roads and that seems a classic case of being seen to do something, no matter how fatuous/irrelevant.

[profpointy]

Looking at a map draped over the passenger seat was fT safer than a satnav ...

... oh hang on

[profpointy]

Looking at a map draped over the passenger seat was far safer than a satnav ...

... oh hang on

[drossall]

Because of long-term map use, I can often look at a map before setting out in the car, and then just drive to an unknown destination. I don't generally bother with a sat-nav, although my wife has one that I can use.

On a bike, it's different. Audaxes normally consist of taking 30% of all available side turnings, in order to make the best route, but something that is far from direct or simple. My GPS improves my enjoyment of those.