Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Grandad
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Grandad »

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Cunobelin
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Cunobelin »

Forget SMIDSY we can have SMIWOTS - Sorry Mate, it wasn't on the Satnav


I dislike this stories intensely as it shifts the blame for caresell stupidity form the real source .... the muppet behind the wheel

This junction is clearly marked and there is no excuse whatsoever for these crashes.

SatNav's like maps are a guide and should be used as such. They go out of date, you lose a signal, weak signal are all possible reasons (apart from simple CDF that you do not rely on tehm every inch of the way rather than actually use your eyes, era and brains


We have whole housing estates here that are not on my 1997 street map, and whole towns not on my 1907 maps, but it is not the maps fault if I drive straight into a house, factory or School because it was not marked on teh map.

Equally if we accept this stupidity where does it end....
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Just like telephoning, switch the **** thing off
The brain has two halves, but one cannae do two things at the same time
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pwa
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by pwa »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Just like telephoning, switch the **** thing off
The brain has two halves, but one cannae do two things at the same time

Could you listen to a person in the passenger seat beside you telling you when to turn? That's what a satnav does. Much better than fiddling with a map on your knee, which is what a lot of people used to do. And for delivery drivers satnavs are essential. They don't have their own personal rounds like they used to, always going to the same addresses that they get to know. The answer is to learn to use a satnav safely, not fiddling with it on the go.

I was using a satnav yeserday that told me to turn right ignoring a No Entry sign. I ignored the satnav and carried on and waited for the satnav to suggest a different route, which it did. I believe I use the satnav responsibly, not slavishly obeying every instruction and not fiddling with it when moving.
Bonefishblues
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Bonefishblues »

Cunobelin wrote:Forget SMIDSY we can have SMIWOTS - Sorry Mate, it wasn't on the Satnav


I dislike this stories intensely as it shifts the blame for caresell stupidity form the real source .... the muppet behind the wheel

This junction is clearly marked and there is no excuse whatsoever for these crashes.

SatNav's like maps are a guide and should be used as such. They go out of date, you lose a signal, weak signal are all possible reasons (apart from simple CDF that you do not rely on tehm every inch of the way rather than actually use your eyes, era and brains


We have whole housing estates here that are not on my 1997 street map, and whole towns not on my 1907 maps, but it is not the maps fault if I drive straight into a house, factory or School because it was not marked on teh map.

Equally if we accept this stupidity where does it end....

If we look at the source article, it said, in terms, "...some locals had suggested that drivers might have been following satnavs"

I think it's somewhat less than definitive regarding what the cause of these accidents, but I agree with the points you make.
Bonefishblues
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Bonefishblues »

pwa wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Just like telephoning, switch the **** thing off
The brain has two halves, but one cannae do two things at the same time

Could you listen to a person in the passenger seat beside you telling you when to turn? That's what a satnav does. Much better than fiddling with a map on your knee, which is what a lot of people used to do. And for delivery drivers satnavs are essential. They don't have their own personal rounds like they used to, always going to the same addresses that they get to know. The answer is to learn to use a satnav safely, not fiddling with it on the go.

I was using a satnav yeserday that told me to turn right ignoring a No Entry sign. I ignored the satnav and carried on and waited for the satnav to suggest a different route, which it did. I believe I use the satnav responsibly, not slavishly obeying every instruction and not fiddling with it when moving.

A bad driver behind the wheel will drive badly, irrespective of satnav or whatever. They might, on some occasions, be safer with a virtual co-pilot sitting on the dash telling them what to do as opposed to making their own mind up*. We may be looking at symptoms, rather than cause, as can sometimes be the case.

*But when nanny gets it wrong, things can go badly awry.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Satnavs are fantastic things - dedicated devices are somewhat outdated in the era of smartphones with ubiquitous connections - but they are really useful.

My phone sits on a cradle which is held in the CD slot of my car (now there is a distraction) and as such is sufficiently far back and down in the carbto be in shade and therefore easy to read. It’s also high enough that I can glance at it as easily as a wing mirror, and maintain peripheral vision of what’s ahead (as with a wing mirror).
It better at navigating than my wife, and doesn’t get flustered when I can’t take a particular route for any reason (missed turn, couldn’t filter, road blocked) and just works around it.
It knows where there is heavy traffic and plots a route around it, relieving that congestion and making my own journey quicker.

As with anything else you can behave like an idiot whilst using it, but in the same way that it is extremely rare for a car to cause an accident (mechanical failure despite maintenance) it is basically impossible for a satnav to cause an accident.
It’s bad enough that newspapers say that cars are driving, and that cars nearly hit people... drivers drive, and drivers nearly hit people with cars...
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ambodach
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by ambodach »

The speedo failed in my Ducato ( common fault) about 200 miles from home as I was in Aberdeen at the time. Tried the AA for advice to any nearby garage who might have the bits to fix it. Advice I got was just use your satnav as speedo which is legal for temporary use. The assumption is that everyone has one or else a smartphone mounted on the dash. I fortunately have a very old and cheap Garmin satnav which I seldom use but this got me home on roads littered with speed cameras such as the A90. They have other uses apart from maps.
drossall
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by drossall »

<OT>Why only legal for temporary use? The requirement is to obey the speed limit. Does the law also specify how to achieve that? Not that I'd consider driving long-term with a broken speedo, as you'd be bound to forget the sat nav one day.</OT>
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Mick F
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Mick F »

It is a legal requirement to have a working speedometer.
No doubt some boffin will be round soon with chapter and verse over this, but I doubt anyone would ever notice if you didn't have one but relied on keeping below the speed limits by using a device or other.

Maybe an MOT tester could notice as the car would be on a rolling road for brake testing.
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Mistik-ka
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Mistik-ka »

"Cause accidents?" Not a bit of it — satnavs save marriages.
When touring by tandem (Is there any other way?) The satnav fits securely on the stoker's handlebar. This means:
— I, as Captain, can concentrate on the road and traffic
— Mrs. M-k, as Rear Admiral, can keep me on the straight and narrow (as she has done so skillfully for 47 years)
— and when we get lost, we can both blame it on the malfunctioning satnav!
(Rule Number One of successful tandeming: "The Stoker is never wrong.") :wink:
Bonefishblues
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Bonefishblues »

Mick F wrote:It is a legal requirement to have a working speedometer.
No doubt some boffin will be round soon with chapter and verse over this, but I doubt anyone would ever notice if you didn't have one but relied on keeping below the speed limits by using a device or other.

Maybe an MOT tester could notice as the car would be on a rolling road for brake testing.

You don't need one to be legally compliant, but if fitted it must work and be accurate (that is, over-read by a massive amount ;) )
Bonefishblues
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Bonefishblues »

Mistik-ka wrote:"Cause accidents?" Not a bit of it — satnavs save marriages.
When touring by tandem (Is there any other way?) The satnav fits securely on the stoker's handlebar. This means:
— I, as Captain, can concentrate on the road and traffic
— Mrs. M-k, as Rear Admiral, can keep me on the straight and narrow (as she has done so skillfully for 47 years)
— and when we get lost, we can both blame it on the malfunctioning satnav!
(Rule Number One of successful tandeming: "The Stoker is never wrong.") :wink:

Apropos of that, it's not a bad maxim.

Rule 2., assuming 1. is ignored, is not to say, "Well get off and I will ride the damn thing up the hill on my own then"

...I did though, but I was perhaps 20 years younger and a red mist had descended :lol:
irc
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by irc »

661-Pete wrote:But - whatever the law says - a satnav is designed to be viewed by a driver while in motion. This means there's risk of a driver paying more attention to it than to important road signs - like the STOP signs in the above video.


Like anything else it needs to be used appropriately. I have a part time job that involves driving to random houses throughout the greater Glasgow area. A sat-nav is brilliant compared to a map but it is just a tool. Checking speed is easier and more accurate tan a speedometer - less far off the road. I don't use voice prompts. I use the feature giving the distance to and name of next turn. So if it says "turn left 500M". I know I can ignore it for the next few hundred meters. On unfamiliar multi-lane junctions the picture of the lane layout and correct lane is usually clearer than the road signs.

It is only a momentary glance each time I look at it no more distracting than momentary glances in any of my mirrors. And like use of mirrors is done at the appropriate time. So not while going round a narrow corner for example.

Street signs of course still need to be read. It has on the off occasions tried to send me down one way streets. It isn't perfect. Sometimes it will send me on what may be the shortest route but isn't the fastest due to traffic lights, expected traffic, hills, etc.

Overall, far superior to a paper map for driving on roads I don't know.
Pete Owens
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Re: Satnavs 'cause accidents'?

Post by Pete Owens »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Just like telephoning, switch the **** thing off
The brain has two halves, but one cannae do two things at the same time

So presumably, any time you set off to drive somewhere, you simply start the car and and set off making a random choice of direction at every junction until you run out of fuel and hope that that happens to be at your intended direction. Because IF (as you claim) you cannot pay any attention to anything other than the control of the vehicle in its immediate surroundings you certainly won't be able to constantly scan for direction signs that may or may not be relevant for your destination - nor to check for non essential details such as how much fuel is left in the tank.

Navigation is not a distraction from driving, but an essential feature. This is why it now features in the driving test. A sat-nav is merely a tool to reduce the amount of attention drivers need to devote to the task, by condensing the information down to that relevant for a particular trip. The less attention a driver needs to spend on deciding which way to go the more they have for executing the task.
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