Satellite navigation and accidents

Mike P you talk crap man. Just drivel with no point who cares how you use your sat nav. Get a life.

Hi Nikki,
Its the 'used correctly' that is the problem, the no brainers popping down the road to get whatever, needing to be told left from right and when!

I am one of those rare women who are actually quite good at reading maps ... and I have a very good sense of direction, both in a car and on my feet. Recently OH purchased a sat nav, I was dead against it because I thought it to be an utter waste of money when I am more than capable of reading an ordnance survey map. However, I have had to eat my words, they are absolutely brilliant, especially when I am driving myself and cannot therefore map read. As someone has said, it is not always possible or safe to park up and read your map. Used correctly, the sat nav, especially round towns, is absolutely brilliant. Frequently, they will divert you off motorways to avoid an accident that has happened up ahead, and save you hours of frustration. Used sensibly and correctly, they are a godsend ... even for Antichrist, with his sexist remarks !

Like most things, SatNavs are a great device when used properly. With the volume of traffic and the state of many roads it can be both difficult and dangerous to find a safe stopping place to read a map, so if you are on your own or with someone who can't read a map (ie most women, sexist I know but a proven fact!) using a SatNav can be safer than stopping. I have even seen idiots with the map out trying to read a map whilst driving.

A Satnav used with care, and they all come with safety warning, some even have them on screen, can enhance safety for both the user and those around him. I only use mine when necessary and use it as decision support rather than relying on it totally.

So you're on a bike and you overtake when there's a turning on the right? Suicidal or what? Ok the car driver is in the wrong, but as a bike rider personally I'd rather stay alive. Fully agree about SatNavs. QVC and Ideal world crazily demonstrate them in the MIDDLE of the windscreen!!

To be honest lads n lasses I use a Sat Nav for my work when I get callouts to domestic properties & i'm unfamiliar with the area I find myself in.
However I do observe the road & not the Sat Nav screen. I only listen to the spoken instructions.
Some of the people you are on about are nutters anyway with or without Sat Nav-believe me I like most of the rest of you come across them every day-most of which are not insured!!!
Sadly our roads are full of idiots of all ages, race, sex etc & there aint a damn thing any of us can do about it I'm afraid!

Hi, this is moving off topic is it not! I do agree with youthough Brian.
Satnavs are great as a tool but do they need a screen if you have the audio instructions? I think not. You cant look at the screen and the road.
No brainers become dependant on it because they dont have to think anymore.
To repeat, it is a tool not a dependancy.

Quote:

" Why don't bikers should slow down and stop overtaking everything in sight, idiots!

MBRAI 19-Nov-2007 12:01"

There's nothing wrong with overtaking a car doing 20mph in a 40 zone whether you're a on a bike, in a car or anything else.

Why don't bikers should slow down and stop overtaking everything in sight, idiots!

Satnavs may not be dangerous but they do encourage dangerous activities. Why, when you have a spoken list of instructions do they need to have a screen that encourages the driver to look at it. Often the satnav itslef is positioned anywhere but in the line of direct ahead vision! Even those fitted by the vehicle manufacturer!

Sat-nav's are not dangerous, they are just a tool. It's the numptys who don't have any common sense (a very rare commidity!) who are dangerous. I use my TomTom700 when I'm going somewhere unfamiliar, and I find it gives me more time to observe the road & other drivers, as opposed to trying to read the 50 odd roadside signs per mile, in order to see the one for my destination.
I never trust my TomTom implicitly, it does after all try and tell me to do illegal turns, and send me down blocked-off roads, but at least I'm never lost 'cos I always know where I am.

Sat navs are dangerous and for people who cant read.
I have been driving cars and articulated lorries for over twenty five years in the uk and on the continent and by just using maps.
Simple really. you stop in a services or lay by look at the map and off you go. If you are really stuck, stop and ask one of the locals, If you can be bothered to learn the the basics of the countries language that you are in that is.
I have seen drivers on the roads who totally rely on sat navs and have caused mayhem when they want to turn off a motorway WHEN they are still in the third lane.
some of the roads around winchester have signs up telling hgv drivers not to use the roads that the sat navs have sent them down as they are unsuitable for for hgvs.
these signs cost a lot of money that is coming out of the taxpayers pocket!
I once worked with a driver who set his sat nav to find his way to and from our depot. sad but very true.