GPWizard F1 Forum
Everything Else => General Automotive => Topic started by: Ian on April 15, 2017, 02:13:14 PM
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I'm glad I've already got a driving licence, from December 4th having to use satnav is part of the test among other things, the examiner will just tell you where you have to go and you have to navigate by satnav, those of you that have known me for a while know what I'm like with gadgets, no chance.
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You just don't like a woman's voice giving you directions ;) ;)
I always thought SatNav was a crutch more than a tool. Considering they aren't mandatory in cars, why on earth would they make it mandatory in the tests?? :fool: :fool:
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Maybe the DVLA get a rake off from the makers. :DntKnw:
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Given all the push/hype on self driving cars but the fact you still need to have a driver in such a car then goodness knows what the driving test might look like for that! Maybe you'd just have to sit in the self-drive car, program the sat nav and then demonstrate your ability to not fall asleep for an hour.
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All those youngsters taking their test will have a smartphone with GPS and it'll tell them where to go so maybe its a step in the right direction.
Last week I went on a five day ride down in the South Island and the amount of people on their phones was staggering maybe they'll bring that in too?
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My sat nav would fail the test, tried to take me on a path through some woods my bike would not have managed.
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Over here they try to take you over closed mountain passes in the winter...we weren't paying attention one time last winter and it cost us at least 2hrs to backtrack...wifey insists on using a map now when something looks fishy.
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I love my GPS. Rode to a address in Baltimore,Maryland some 600
miles away with no clue whee I was going. Took me right there with
no problems.
First bought a Tomtom and it got me lost many times.While having more car
worked on one of the mechanics swiped it. Did me a favor..bought a Garmin
and never had a problem
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I've always found that you have put locations that you know so that you can understand how its process of navigation works and by doing that I've not, to date, had a problem.
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I've always found that you have put locations that you know so that you can understand how its process of navigation works and by doing that I've not, to date, had a problem.
Not me...I'm horrible reading maps so I put my faith and life in
a $100 machine and hope for the best
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When I was about 9, the family drove from Phoenix, AZ to Madison, WI in our wonderful 1958 Mercury Montclair. My Dad was a member of AAA and had them plan the trip so we got the whole package, motel-restaurant guidebook, fold out map of the entire trip and a handy little gadget called a Trip-Tik. Imagine all the screens from your nav system printed out and organized into a wire bound booklet. He handed me the booklet, spent about 5 minutes explaining how to read it and said "Don't get us lost". He knew exactly where he was going, of course, but I read the maps and except for some minor problems in St Louis, got us safely to our destination. Never had any trouble reading maps since. This was pre McDonald's, pre freeway America when the highways went through the center of cities not around them. I've used navs, but they've gotten me lost, taken me the long way around and on one occasion told me I was in the middle of a field when I was on a new stretch of freeway. Just a convenience, not a necessity.
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When I was about 9, the family drove from Phoenix, AZ to Madison, WI in our wonderful 1958 Mercury Montclair. My Dad was a member of AAA and had them plan the trip so we got the whole package, motel-restaurant guidebook, fold out map of the entire trip and a handy little gadget called a Trip-Tik. Imagine all the screens from your nav system printed out and organized into a wire bound booklet. He handed me the booklet, spent about 5 minutes explaining how to read it and said "Don't get us lost". He knew exactly where he was going, of course, but I read the maps and except for some minor problems in St Louis, got us safely to our destination. Never had any trouble reading maps since. This was pre McDonald's, pre freeway America when the highways went through the center of cities not around them. I've used navs, but they've gotten me lost, taken me the long way around and on one occasion told me I was in the middle of a field when I was on a new stretch of freeway. Just a convenience, not a necessity.
Yeah but maps don't talk to you and tell you
when you missed a turn
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If you're reading the map and following it properly you won't miss a turn. :tease:
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I've seen GPS try to do some fairly odd routes for me, partially because I sometimes use a public-transport version of them as a pedestrian (for example, to figure out in advance how to get from Silverstone to Towcester, or whether I'm better off taking a train or night bus for a late-evening trip from my home to Northampton).
When I attempted the "home town to Northampton" route (note: I live about 80 miles from Northampton) suggested, as a better route than either train or night bus, to take a quick plane about 4000 miles to Ohio, take a taxi for 60 miles and then fly to London before continuing the journey on train. Oops! (In the end, I took what should have been 2 trains and ended up being 3 due to multiple delays for train #2).
Occasionally I even try using them on the scene, when I've got lost, but never has one been of any help in that situation. Either it finds no satellites or it sends me several miles the wrong way.
So I'm not sure I'd use an in-car GPS much except for an emergency, but I see why it is on the test. Too many people:
a) find the GPS pictures too distracting and take their eyes off the road excessively to use them
b) find the GPS voice too distracting and cannot multi-task it with driving (this also affects people distracted by passengers' talking - especially on matters unrelated to journey requirements - but that was not on the UK test before as testers are required to limit their speech to that needed to conduct the test fairly)
c) cannot interpret the directions and get lost (a related skill was tested in the previous version of the UK test, where the tester would tell the driver a destination and the driver had to find their way there, with the help of a map if needed)
d) fails to anticipate instructions properly, leading to the driver making such distinctive errors as being in the wrong lane in roundabouts, cutting lanes to correct this and trying to wrestle into queues belatedly
e) takes instructions too literally, failing to consider instructions may be incomplete, outdated or just plain wrong. These are the classic examples of "driver obeys GPS to drive up a goat track" and "driver uses car setting of GPS to wedge their lorry under a bridge". It's also led to a fair few cases of people driving much too fast, or much too slow, because the speed limits indicated on the GPS didn't match the road signs, and the driver foolishly disregarded the signs
It's really as distracting as a hands-free mobile phone, and I think GPS is only allowed because for many people, there would be even worse driving problems without GPS presence. So it's good that the driving test will now require candidates to become accustomed to that particular helpful distraction's presence. A well-formulated version of the test would combine all 5 requirements, though in some areas e) in particular is not easy to do for a car test, requiring significant local knowledge on the tester's part.
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I'd still sooner have a map and plan my journey. :good:
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I'd still sooner have a map and plan my journey. :good:
I suspect the police would probably agree with you - while good map and good GPS use are probably equally safe, bad map use causes a lot fewer accidents and traffic law breaches than bad GPS use.
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I'd still sooner have a map and plan my journey. :good:
I sooner have a co-pilot (who will remain nameless) who can use and understand the technology of a NAV with just a little bit of efficiency...no, I'm not impatient :tease: :tease: :crazy: :crazy:
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If you're reading the map and following it properly you won't miss a turn. :tease:
If your reading a map while driving you just may
not arrive at your destination :tease:
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Somewhat strangely for me I find myself agreeing with Dare, :swoon: sat nav is a great aid. :good:
I've happily entrusted myself to GPS when travelling to unknown areas and have always arrived where I should be. I really appreciate the ability to narrow a certain address in a long road down to a few houses, especially on dark winter nights.
Yeah there are some inconsistencies, like the time I was on a long stretch of motorway in Kent, with no slip road or junction for at least 5 miles, and the nav decided to tell me to take the second exit of a roundabout at 500yards ahead - then 200yards - then 50yards.............. then re-calculating, re-calculating! :o
The machine repeated this same phantom process about 2 miles later - oops!! :crazy:
Thought at first it's just one of those oddities you get in Kent,
eh Ian? :tease:
Turns out it was my fault really for using 4 year old software - well got to get your money's worth ain't you. :D
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Dare, I jot down turn off points before I set off, stick it to the dashboard then cross them off as I go.
John, I might live in Kent now but I'm a Smokie by birth and upbringing.
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Am I reading this right...John agreed a little with me.I agree that
a lot of GPS problems are when the maps aren't updated.Problem
is updating on my 2nd GPS caught almost as much as the GPS.
I trust them so much I'd go to the Moon with one