Will it never end? Satnav clampdown

[Peter Ward]

Raify said:

RichBurley said:

Erm, they're the same image - they are both called screen.jpg, and they are identical

I didn't need to take a second picture, as the offending sticker that "ingresses into the swept area by more than 40mm" is hidden by the rear view mirror.

So that sticker was enough to fail an MOT? But the mirror isn't?!

I recall "in the old days" that Triplex Zebrazone Toughened Windscreens (remember them?) had a sticker in exactly that spot advertising themselves.

I guess it's true that some people do place their satnavs in bad locations that cause blind spots. In these cases I have no problem with them being dealt with. But to impose a rule relating to the area swept by wipers without having any regard for whether that causes a blindspot is missing the point. It's like, oh I don't know, prosecuting for holding a phone instead of the effects of it

[Raify]

ridiculous n'est c'est pas?

I scraped away the offending 40mm portion of the sticker (a Jap road tax) from the swept area, so that the only portion of the sticker visible behind the mirror remained.

Even more stupidly, the garage that failed it, passed it 12 months previous sticker and all.

Like you say, a blanket "swept area" rule does not use any common sense "but it doesn't obscure my view of the road"

[deevlash]

buy a map

[rich 36]

To echo the first reply though

its not only the morons placing a great big rubber suction pad squarely in the middle of the screen,
its then going on to including say..

dangly Bart Simpson air freshener from RV mirror,
notepad on a sucker in the corner for scribbling down abusive drivers registration numbers,
amusing miniature number plate that spells '5EXY' (which is brill BTW)
pointless road angel copy which tells them they are now actually outside Tescos' front doors
Compass etc......

Halfwits sell an array suction based object d' art so just close them down instead

[Tunku]

Forget the Sat-nav obscuring the view, I saw a car with one of those sun screens for the back side windows placed on the windscreen in front of the driver.

[Parrot of Doom]

Raify said:

bluepolarbear said:

MOT failure for leaving the bracket in place.

A real pedant can make almost anything an MOT failure.

Check out this windscreen, which was an MOT failure:




And this one, which a week later was not:

Tip - download Autostitch!

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch...

[rich 36]

Tunku said:

Forget the Sat-nav obscuring the view, I saw a car with one of those sun screens for the back side windows placed on the windscreen in front of the driver.

definitely a real person,
only you know they sell them with people drawn on them don't you

[Tunku]

rich 36 said:

Tunku said:

Forget the Sat-nav obscuring the view, I saw a car with one of those sun screens for the back side windows placed on the windscreen in front of the driver.

definitely a real person,
only you know they sell them with people drawn on them don't you

eh?

[rich 36]

I suppose I mean nobody could actually be that stupid

but then I see the flaw in my argument TBH


as you were Tunku

[Tunku]

rich 36 said:

I suppose I mean nobody could actually be that stupid

but then I see the flaw in my argument TBH


as you were Tunku

ah.

[Heebeegeetee]

“If a child steps out from behind a parked car and the driver’s view is obstructed by the system or any other item, the driver may not see the child as quickly, may brake later and the injury to the child may be worse.”

What if a child steps out whilst a driver is concentrating on directional road signs, especially given that unlike sat-nav, these signs are well out of the field of vision of the road itself? What about said child when a driver is trying to read signs like these?

Deva Link said:

To be fair, you do see quite a number of them stuck right in the middle of the windscreen. That *cannot* be a good idea. It's especially noticeable at night when you can see the unit's screen lit up.

When i'm on my own, i place my sat-nav by the a pillar, when with my wife i'll put in the middle of the screen so she can read it whilst i'm driving, which is useful when negotiating a busy town. When i say middle, i don't mean slap bang in the middle, but it still may be in the swept area.

deevlash said:

buy a map

I am genuinely worried about how the mentalists view sat-nav, 'cos in the job i am doing now i would absolutely hate to be without it. I am driving articulated lorries at night. When i was young, navigating about at night wasn't too much of a problem, i simply read the map as i drove. But now i'm older, i find it much more difficult - for a start, as i'm driving at night time, to read the map i have to turn a light on, plus my eyesight has changed now, so to check the map i have to whip my specs off and turn on a light, read map, then turn light off ansd put specs back on. I could stop and check map, but i'm not so sure - firstly, ( a genuine question) what is the legal position with stopping on double yellows to check a map, and secondly, you genuinely CANNOT just stop an artic anywhere to check a map, you really honestly cannot. Quite often, if i stop then so does everybody else behind me.

I must make it clear - i can read maps. I sit on the throne and read maps. I can navigate on road rallies, not brilliantly but we never finish last. This is me navigating our way to victory in a 12 car championship a few years back. (And before you take the piss about the car, i'd make sure your car is quicker down those rough lanes, first. )


For anybody who doubts the merits of sat-nav, (and I would DEARLY love to get a road or elfan safety mentalist on board for this exercise) I have an exercise that would really nail this one, and we don't have to go anywhere exotic. Just Leicester.

We could meet at a pub on the A5 adjacent to junction 1 of the M69 one evening, and then we get in the car and i give the driver an address in Leicester, and I would dearly love to see the driver navigate his way there by map at night. I'd love to see how legally and safely this can be done. Exercises have been done before of map v sat-nav, but forget them, like many 'safety' exercises they were completely dishonest because the map car always had 2 people in whereas the sat-nav car would have one, and to my knowledge the exercises were never carried out at night.

I would dearly love to do this, it would only take an evening and we could have a meal at the pub. We could have 4 people in the car and record and report the drivers experience for PH. I would also love to do it 'cos i do wonder 'if it's me' and should i be doing a better job without sat-nav?

Personally, i believe sat-nav is a major contribution to road safety, but this country really does have a problem with technology and the acceptance of it, IMO.

Edited by Heebeegeetee on Friday 5th October 20:25

[pishflapsh]

Funnily enough I was thinking about this today as I saw several cars on the way home that jumped out a mile because they had sodding great sat nav units stuck to the windscreens directly in front of the driver - and I mean directly in front to the extent that I think anybody would consider them dangerous.

Perhaps they could deal with pay and display tickets as well?

Incidentally, does “The legislation says the swept area of the windscreen must be kept clear.” mean that they are removing Tax discs too?

[H_Kan]

I usually place mine in the center of the screen width wise and pretty low down, around 3-4 inches above the dash. This is in the swept area however from my position on the right it doesn't get in my way at all. It would obscure the view if ahead of me however it is fine when there. I do like it next to the a pillar however this means I have to use the battery as I don't want a wire trailing across me as my lighter thingy is in the middle.

Also my tomtom has a night colours mode which uses blues etc which are more in keeping with the environment and help stop it distracting me. There is no doubt that these systems are a help. They stop people scanning signs/maps etc instead of the road because most people just use the oral direction.

Also don't know about you guys, but it stops me getting into arguements when my girlfriend tries to guide me and we get lost! Surely a calmer driver is a safer one?

[Munter]

Heebeegeetee said:

Lots of stuff with a pic of a fast marina!?

I agree with a lot of that. I've just started doing a lot of driving for business normally going somewhere I dont know in heavy traffic. While i'm great with a map, using sat nav is definately safer! Before this job I too was of the "Just get a map" mindset. But you only have a few close calls with using the AtoZ of timbucktoo before you give in and buy a sat nav.

[IRM]

http://www.dashmount.co.uk/manufacturers.htm

[Heebeegeetee]

IRM said:

http://www.dashmount.co.uk/manufacturers.htm

http://www.dashmount.co.uk/march03/71195.htm

Hmmm.

[Chrispy Porker]

Raify said:

RichBurley said:

Erm, they're the same image - they are both called screen.jpg, and they are identical

I didn't need to take a second picture, as the offending sticker that "ingresses into the swept area by more than 40mm" is hidden by the rear view mirror.

Is the tree in the distance on fire?

[Brett928S2]

Hi

This country is getting insane...

In my "swept area" I have a rear view mirror...(illegal ?)...I also have a radio Ariel built into centre of screen running down for about 18 inches (illegal?) ...I also have a tax disc holder (illegal ?)

Take me to court............

All the best Brett

[streaky]

Heebeegeetee said:

I must make it clear - i can read maps. I sit on the throne and read maps. I can navigate on road rallies, not brilliantly but we never finish last. This is me navigating our way to victory in a 12 car championship a few years back. (And before you take the piss about the car, i'd make sure your car is quicker down those rough lanes, first. )

No p155-taking about the car, but rallying without a seat-belt on (the driver that is; I presume you're wearing a full-harness ... or are those the straps of a bib? ), now THAT does take the p155 ... but perhaps the car wasn't fast enough to necessitate a seat-belt Mind you, there's no evidence of a three-point fixing on the passenger door pillar (unless it's hidden by the interior mirror. Is there a hint of a dangling seat-belt by the dribver's right shoulder, or is that the curve of the seat?) - Streaky

Three-point seat-belts were a compulsory fitting to new cars sold in UK from 1967. The 'L' registration suffix was 1972/3.

PS - were you using your Potti? - S

Edited by streaky on Saturday 6th October 08:55

[streaky]

In both my cars, fitting a satnat display on the windscreen low down but in the swept area would only obscure my view of part of the bonnet (not that I have anything so fitted). The sensor for my Origin B2 is fitted alongside the interior mirror and has never been a MOT failure. The things that most obscure forward vision in the Wedge are the tax disc holder and the interior mirror ... and the bonnet.

Is there any limit to the size of the tax disc holder or interior mirror? (Remember those "panoramic" clip-on interior mirrors ... they spanned nearly the width of a Mini's windscreen .)

Streaky