Mobile Phone as a Sat Nav
Discussion
Just wondering if anyone on here can given a definitive answer to what seems to be a very confusing law.
If one puts a mobile phone, in Sat Nav mode in the window/on the dashboard in a cradle, and doesn't touch the thing in any way during the journey ( for example pus it in flight mode to stop calls ) but uses it purely as a SatNav, is that legal or not?
If one puts a mobile phone, in Sat Nav mode in the window/on the dashboard in a cradle, and doesn't touch the thing in any way during the journey ( for example pus it in flight mode to stop calls ) but uses it purely as a SatNav, is that legal or not?
t400ble said:
Ah that's good then. I do a couple of long drives a week, and find Googles app very very good. Mainly because it seems very good at letting you know there's heavy traffic up ahead. My theory is that they are gathering telemetry off all phones running on Android and using that data to update the traffic app, can't see how else they are managing it on often quite out of the way roads.
Anyway I never touch it, but use it as a nav tool. There was some journalist in a paper telling a story about being taken to court for doing nothing more, but perhaps he was leaving a few facts out?
Timmy45 said:
Just wondering if anyone on here can given a definitive answer to what seems to be a very confusing law.
Not at all confusing.You cannot HAND-HOLD a phone (or similar) while driving. If you aren't hand-holding it, it's not illegal.
Nothing's changed about this in the last 15 years.
Timmy45 said:
If one puts a mobile phone, in Sat Nav mode in the window/on the dashboard in a cradle, and doesn't touch the thing in any way during the journey ( for example pus it in flight mode to stop calls ) but uses it purely as a SatNav, is that legal or not?
Even if you touch the phone screen, and use it to make/receive calls, it's legal - so long as it's in a cradle, and not hand-held.CPS guidance - https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/road-traffic...
Actual legislation - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2695/made
t400ble said:
the gov said:
You can get 3 penalty points if you don’t have a full view of the road and traffic ahead or proper control of the vehicle.
I wish they'd enforce this... The number of numpties I see with phone or sat-nav holders creating a blind spot in the dead centre in the windscreen is stupefying.One thing to watch out for with using Google Maps as a satnav on your phone is that it can sometimes require you to press the screen. As you say, it constantly updates the route you're on for traffic and if it thinks you can save some time it tells you so and if you don't press the "decline" button on the screen within 5 or 10 seconds it will put you on the new route.
If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
GipsyHillClimber said:
One thing to watch out for with using Google Maps as a satnav on your phone is that it can sometimes require you to press the screen. As you say, it constantly updates the route you're on for traffic and if it thinks you can save some time it tells you so and if you don't press the "decline" button on the screen within 5 or 10 seconds it will put you on the new route.
Been using Google maps for nav for years and never had this. I've always had to press "accept" to follow a new route. Automatic re-routing only occurs when I drive off the set route.GipsyHillClimber said:
One thing to watch out for with using Google Maps as a satnav on your phone is that it can sometimes require you to press the screen. As you say, it constantly updates the route you're on for traffic and if it thinks you can save some time it tells you so and if you don't press the "decline" button on the screen within 5 or 10 seconds it will put you on the new route.
If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
I tend to accept it's meanders, but would using the 'Ok Google' keyword and saying "decline" work I wonder. If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
Timmy45 said:
GipsyHillClimber said:
One thing to watch out for with using Google Maps as a satnav on your phone is that it can sometimes require you to press the screen. As you say, it constantly updates the route you're on for traffic and if it thinks you can save some time it tells you so and if you don't press the "decline" button on the screen within 5 or 10 seconds it will put you on the new route.
If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
I tend to accept it's meanders, but would using the 'Ok Google' keyword and saying "decline" work I wonder. If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
You can touch a phone all day long in a cradle and it's not illegal. If you're weaving around all over the road not paying attention whilst doing it, that certainly is.
shakotan said:
Timmy45 said:
GipsyHillClimber said:
One thing to watch out for with using Google Maps as a satnav on your phone is that it can sometimes require you to press the screen. As you say, it constantly updates the route you're on for traffic and if it thinks you can save some time it tells you so and if you don't press the "decline" button on the screen within 5 or 10 seconds it will put you on the new route.
If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
I tend to accept it's meanders, but would using the 'Ok Google' keyword and saying "decline" work I wonder. If you don't want to be taken down a random route that may have more lights or speed bumps (which google maps will quite often send me down in London) or you want to hit a supermarket that was on the route you initially put in, it means you have to then scrabble quite quickly to hit reject, either that or pull over and reset the route and hope it doesn't do it again in 5 minutes! Pretty poor design although i understand why it's a feature. I'm sure there should be a way to turn off the auto reroute but i've not found it.
It happened to me on the M25 yesterday afternoon, not too bad as i was doing about 4mph average for a couple of junctions but based on the link added in earlier even when stopped in traffic that could have resulted in 6 points.
You can touch a phone all day long in a cradle and it's not illegal. If you're weaving around all over the road not paying attention whilst doing it, that certainly is.
All done without touching the phone at all.
HantsRat said:
cuprabob said:
Surely if you.put it in "flight mode" the GPS is disabled and you can't use it as a Sat Nav.
Flight mode only disabled the radio. GPS still works. If you have offline maps this will still work as a sat nav too.spookly said:
Nope. Flight mode usually turns off all radio including GPS on most phones. All Android phones do, and all iPhones with ios 8.2 and lower.
GPS (live satellite-only ) postioning stays on in Flight Mode on my el cheeps Nokia 1. (Android Oreo) I don't know about earlier versions - or other phones - some may differ. There are other online postitioning sources available from Google's data slurping, which don't work in Flight Mode, of course.
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