As a technology geek, I am the first to admit that I use a satnav for navigation and have done so since about 1999 when I hooked my Psion Series 5 to a Garmin GPS 12 unit. It had the benefit of telling me where I was on the map. It was fiddly to be sure – I had to stop and set it up, but the technology was in its early stages. As it has developed, I’ve kept up with it and find it invaluable.
Yes, like others I’ve had the occasional misdirection.
Sat nav devices, often selling for little over £100 have grown in popularity in recent years. At least four million are believed to now be in use.
But while they spare motorists the difficulties of trying to read a map, the technology has proved far from foolproof – only last week a motorist drove along 20 feet of the Doncaster to Hull railway line after following instructions from his sat nav. On one occasion 30 pensioners, some in wheelchairs, missed out on a pub lunch when their bus was wedged between steep grass banks after trying to negotiate a sharp bend in Stroat, Gloucestershire.
What I have done is such circumstances is recognise that the unit is feeding me a line and ignore it, sticking instead to the main roads. The unit then recalculates and away we go. Not this chap, though.
Robert Jones, 43, can also expect to receive a hefty recovery bill after having to be rescued from his spectacular detour high above the West Yorkshire town of Todmorden.
The motorist was en route to visiting friends in broad daylight when the road ahead of him petered out into a footpath on the edge of a cliff.
….
“It kept insisting the path was a road, even as it was getting narrower and steeper.”
“I just trusted it. You don’t expect to be taken nearly off a cliff.”
Frankly, with an approach like that, he deserves his conviction for driving without due care and attention.
However, as is usual when a “problem” is “identified” common sense is despatched forthwith and demands for legislation rear their ugly heads:
In 2006, the Government promised to update the law on satnav systems.
It promised to ensure that the devices did not encourage “rat-running” or give illegal advice to the user.
Quite how it planned to achieve this is anyone’s guess. That truckers use a system designed primarily for cars doesn’t absolve them from their responsibility to observe warning signs denoting height and width restrictions. That, again, is driving without due care and attention. It is nothing to do with the satnav, which is merely a tool, just as a map is merely a tool.
But, according to Mr Baker [LibDem transport spokesman], nothing has been done.
Good. And nothing should be done. The less government does, the better for everyone.
“The rise in the use of satnav devices has led to a doubling of the number of large vehicles hitting rail bridges.”
Note my comment about driver responsibility. These bridges have signs denoting height restrictions, it is beholden on drivers to know how high their truck is and to not attempt to go under bridges that are marked as being lower.
“This has the potential to be extremely dangerous. The Government must act to make satnav devices safer for large vehicles.”
No, the government must not. See my comment about driver responsibility.
“The Government promised to look at this problem over two years ago, but has completely failed to act,” he added.
Jolly good. Keep it up.
A spokesman for TomTom, one of the main producers of satnav systems, defended the technology.
“We do offer a navigation solution for HGVs and it does include height and width information.”
So, there isn’t really a “problem” with the technology after all. It is a user problem and if people are too stupid to act upon the information before their eyes, then they are guilty of driving without due care and attention; an offence that is already on the statue book. So, there is no need whatsoever for the government to do anything at all about satnav systems. Leave us alone to use the technology responsibly and prosecute those who do not as the case may be.
Simples, eh?
I think the main problem is that people are used to following instructions and just do what is said while their logic circuits being overridden by their belief that a third party instructing them is always right. Especially when that voice is frantically saying ‘Turn right NOW!’
It also explains a lot about our society.
No one does any thinking nowadays. It’ll be illegal soon so they will certainly be looking at fixing these sat navs.
I thought HGVs had special sat nav software to ensure they only take appropriate roads and bridges. Any truck driver using a car sat nav will be in big trouble eventually. Try getting one through Kimbolton. There is a hairpin bend with walls either side! Warning signs. Yet still they get stuck!
I found that my Nav Man will try and direct me on to rather iffy roads if I ask for the shortest distance. If it is programmed to fastest route the roads are much more convenient. It has never tried to direct me over a cliff or up a railway line though.
I find the sat nav particularly useful for the last mile or so of the journey once you have left a major main road and for the first mile or so when you drive back to get you onto said main road.
The answer to that is “not necessarily”. I did a little temping a couple of years or so ago as a driver’s mate. The SatNav took us through some interesting Welsh lanes. At the time, I commented about the routing and the driver told me it wasn’t designed with trucks in mind. Yes, I noticed…