Sat Navs

[landybabe]

I'm sure i can't be the only person who is frustrated by the number of news reports about sat nav users getting into trouble because they are incapable of operating their equipment properly. :x
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/7259742.stm

I'm not having a go at just one individual (although... if the cap fits! :twisted:) because there are many people using these sat navs with no real idea about how they work.
Why has common sense regarding the reading of road signs disappeared since they started being used? News reports often make it sound like these people were taken along unsuitable routes by the sat navs themselves when in fact the sat navs are basically still just maps and it's people who are doing the driving!
If people are to continue using them they should take the time to learn how they work, and find out what they are capable of doing instead of obeying every instruction without question.........

climbs down off soap box....again

[Thrasher]

Sat-Nav = Tool

Bad workman - blames tools.

Nuff said.

[harveyg77]

Totally agree, whilst in the Clio, I used my Garmin to navigate along some back lanes I was unfamiliar with. The Satnav told me to take a left turn which looked very narrow, so I stopped and had a look. Yep, a 'Green Lane' which would be fine in the Freelander. Being in the Clio I simply ignored the Satnav drove on, instead of taking her guidance, she recalculated a new route and I got their fine. No driving into fields, off cliffs, or whatever else people seem to end up doing because they fear applying comon-sense and ignoring their Satnav if it appears to be making them do something wrong/dangerous/stupid.

Cheers H

[mike142sl]

These are probably the people who didn't bother to learn how to use maps either resulting in them using signs. You don't have to learn how to use sat navs just tell it you're final destination and off you go. Because it has a voice they treat it as official and believe everything it tells them.

[discowoman]

A lot of trouble occurs when people use the 'SHORTEST ROUTE' option.....when hubby uses his in his truck, he sets it to 'Fastest' as this is usually A roads or M ways....still has to include a bit of lateral thinking sometimes tho' - once tried to take him under a 8' bridge (his wagon is 11 foot 5) and the Wrong way up a 1 way street

[Disco Matt]

What always gets me is the way that some idiots seem to delegate responsibility for their actions to their sat nav. It's a little plastic box that talks. It can't tell whether that road is suitable for your vehicle, that's your responsiblity as a driver.

Personally I feel anyone saying "the sat nav told me to do it" after ending up somewhere that doesn't even resemble a road (like the wally who drove onto a railway line) are in need of compulsory training...

[Defender]

These "Sat-Nav" incidents were posted on a local webforum:
An articulated lorry became stuck across a ditch in Plex Moss Lane, Woodvale at 2:30pm this afternoon (Wednesday 22nd August 2007) after taking a diverted route.

The Volvo FH12 (Penningtons Haulage of Wigan) carrying plant to the YMCA was on the last bend down Plex Moss Lane, Woodvale when it became stuck across a ditch.
This is the third such incident within the past two months. The driver was directed by his sat navigation system, as were the other two drivers.

And a month earlier:
The Dutch lorry carrying plants and flowers was on the last bend down Plex Moss Lane when it became stuck across a ditch.

It was on route to Focus DIY and has since been removed.

This is the second such incident within the past two weeks. The Dutch driver was directed by his sat navigation system, as was last week’s driver.

And....Oh dear. A week earlier:
A Scania Car Transported became stuck across a ditch in Plex Moss Lane, Woodvale at 8:30pm tonight (Wednesday 18th July 2007) after taking a diverted route.
It was on route to West Coast Hyundai. Liverpool Road, Ainsdale from Essex. The road will be blocked for a number of hours until it lifted back onto the road.



They only came a cropper when they reached the two 90 degree bends in the road HERE.

[Jake]

Sat-Nav = Tool

Bad workman - blames tools.

Nuff said.

I couldn't agree more
Is there a reason why truck drivers fit a sat nav then lose the abilty to read road signs?
dummies the lot of them
 

[Guardian.]

thought lorry drivers were supposed to be proffesional drivers, theres nowt professional about them dicks, you dont need that many brain cells to realise you int gonna get round there in them wagons.

[Disco Matt]

To be fair, by the time they got to those bends there would have been nowhere to turn around!

Witless people in normal cars have no excuse however.

[piggysteve]

I've driven that road a few times , an artic is the last thing you'd want to take down there, single track with passing places and you need them.

Steve

[diggerdog36]

While laning a few month back, we came accross a brand new BMW 3 series up a lane stuck on rocks, the sat nav took them there!!! Not the driver...the sat nav!!!

[datalas]

Sat-Nav = Tool

Bad workman - blames tools.

Nuff said.

Where's Bramcote ?

[Bishops Finger]

Its not known as crap nav for a reason....

[Range Rover Red]

I flatly refuse to trust it when I'm towing - I get directions from the AA Route Finder then check it out in the map book, and get local directions from the destination.  I was proved right on holiday last summer when it tried to send us the wrong way down the narrowest one-way system and dead ends I have ever tried to get a RRC through.  Luckily the van was about 12 miles away on site!

Driving round Sheffield a couple of weeks ago, it was thrown by a new road, took us round in circles a couple of times, tried to send us down a road that you used to be able to go down but can't any more, and eventually gave up altogether.  We found our destination by using - wait for it - road signs and a sense of direction.

[crazymac]

We had it on a green lane day a couple of months back. Just came off a lane, heading to the next and met a polish driver that had been blindly following his satnav!! Council workers out to help and a LOT of time to get him round the bend he was trying to! Idiot!!

My brother drives artics, and he also sets to "fastest" and also puts in the "avoid bridges under" tag on his!

[freelanderpx54]

My mate had to go down to Slough for his company and he was in a tunnel when the sat nav suddenly exclaimed that he had reached his destination and kept telling him to "turn around when possible"

My favourite was on a day out to Nunnington hall in Yorkshire. After looking around there, we set the Sat Nav to take us to Leyburn by the shortest route. We went down this single track road and Kim's tourettes was particularly noticable ;)

[Sider]

Its not known as crap nav for a reason....

I tend to find that those branding them with that epitet tend to be those who are less than good at using it.

At the end of the day, it is another tool, so don't blame the tool if you are too thick to use it.

Oh, and by the way, I drive all kind of lorries, both rigids and artics, for a living, and use the satnav on a daily basis, with a good pinch of the ole common sense. Guess what, I never got stuck. Only once I have found myself in a hairy situation, and that was in the middle of the Chilterns, and it only happened because some local vandals decided to pinch the "Unsuitable for HGVs" sign at the entrance of the lane. Still got through, but it took some effort.

[crazymac]

You could always use this excuse? it goes something like this (its a joke by the way!)

A trucker following his satnav finds himself trapped under a low bridge. The Police turn up , and he says to the driver "got stuck under this following the satnav?"

The trucker reply's "No! I was delivering this bridge and ran out of diesel" :lol: :lol: :lol: :dance:

[Boddle]

Most of the Sat Nav problem can be placed in the hands of users not setting the basics setting correctly. If you tell the Sat Nav that you don't want to go down an E road (or untarmaced) it find an alternative root.

 IT doesn't remove the responsibility of the driver to use there brain either in most of these situations can be avoid if the driver thinks they can choose to ignore the Sat Nav because lane looks to small or there is a signpost that give a minimum width or maximum height.

[Wanderer]

Sat-Nav = Tool

Bad workman - blames tools.

Nuff said.

Where's Bramcote ?

Whoops that was below the belt :lol: :lol:

Ed

[Thrasher]

Of course, in my defence, I'd have made the same mistake with a map ;-)

I wasn't following the wrong directions, I'd just chosen the wrong Bramcote  :twisted:

[Paul]

Of course, in my defence, I'd have made the same mistake with a map ;-)

I wasn't following the wrong directions, I'd just chosen the wrong Bramcote  :twisted:

It's easily done Neil, I've lost count of the number of squaddies that end up looking for the Barracks in Nottingham when they are posted to Bramcote in Warwickshire...

I always chuckle when we get the call asking for directions, the phone goes silent for a bit when you tell them there 40 miles away!! :lol:

[Disco Matt]

Happens over in Kington all the time. Friends of mine who work in a builders merchant there regularly field calls from confused people who've ended up in the other Kington (the other side of Hereford apparently!)

[Tommo]

I know this thread is about slagging it off but take a second to think about how fantastic it is really. wherever you are GPS can locate you and tell you where you need to be going. sat nav makes picking up stuff won on ebay a doddle. Maps are great for the kitchen table but useless when you are bombing down an A road wondering which road you turn off on. Ok so it makes errors but i dont see a road map telling me how wide a road is.

[datalas]

I have to admit that I find the GPS most useful as a rolling map,  Most turnoffs (particularly for shows etc) are badly signposted or the signs are hidden behind trees and other such annoyance.  Having a map that shows you to within a few feet where the turnoff is has saved me no end of "oh bother" turning round moments.

[Disco Matt]

I have to admit that I find the GPS most useful as a rolling map,  Most turnoffs (particularly for shows etc) are badly signposted or the signs are hidden behind trees and other such annoyance.  Having a map that shows you to within a few feet where the turnoff is has saved me no end of "oh bother" turning round moments.

That's exactly how mine will work - Memory-Map providing a moving map display centred on my current location.

[landybabe]

I know this thread is about slagging it off but take a second to think about how fantastic it is really. wherever you are GPS can locate you and tell you where you need to be going. sat nav makes picking up stuff won on ebay a doddle. Maps are great for the kitchen table but useless when you are bombing down an A road wondering which road you turn off on. Ok so it makes errors but i dont see a road map telling me how wide a road is.

Actually this thread wasn't about slagging off sat navs at all. I'd be lost without mine now (no pun intended!  ) I think they're a great piece of equipment when they're in the right hands and that was the point of the thread...........It's the muppets out there that can't or wont use them properly that gives them a bad reputation  These people should learn how to use them and stop blaming them for the mistakes they make themselves. How many times do we hear drivers say "My sat nav sent me down here" when they've got lost or stuck on unsuitable roads....So the sat nav was driving as well was it??? 


Paper maps are still great for checking what sat navs tell you too though....With different line styles and colours to show you whether a road is Major or Minor or simply a Single track and not forgetting that road signs are still out there too  :? why are drivers still getting in such a mess 

For some people it must be
Sat nav switched on = Common sense switched off :-.

[datalas]

For some people it must be
Sat nav switched on = Common sense switched off :-.

You are of course assuming that these folk have a functioning common sense unit to turn off :(

[landybabe]

Aaahh  :doh:
My mistake  :lol: :lol: