From December 2017 the Driving test will include an element of Sat Nav understanding and operation.
I thought this was an April Fool
hmy:
But no it's for real
I thought this was an April Fool
hmy:But no it's for real
Sat Navs to be part of Driving Test!
- Thread starter Dustydog
- Start date
Parksy
Moderator
I wonder if the inclusion of sat navs in the driving test will prevent drivers from slavishly following every instruction no matter how unlikely the route may be.
There have been instances of people driving into rivers and along farm tracks :silly:
There have been instances of people driving into rivers and along farm tracks :silly:
I suppose driving instructors will have sat-navs for pupils to utilise, and will provide information as where to stick the beastie to maintain legality on vision and presumably prohibition of button pressing while in motion. Is this included in the highway code yet I wonder? As Parksy comments perhaps this will include when to ignore the thing altogether even if this results in several miles of 'nagging' to turn around when possible!
As everyone knows I can't be bothered with sat nav as swmbo is a very good map reader.
We had a delivery man this week who was most insistent that our house was where he had to deliver to because his machine said so. We refused to accept the delivery so he tried next door as well. He needed to be 30 odd houses down the road.
We had a delivery man this week who was most insistent that our house was where he had to deliver to because his machine said so. We refused to accept the delivery so he tried next door as well. He needed to be 30 odd houses down the road.
anyone ever watched the London to Brighton run? can you imagine 110 years ago it was a automotive feat if a car could cover 60 odd miles without a total unrepairable breakdown... there'll never catch on too unreliable ... well sat navs have come a long way in the near 20 odd years i have used them , mind I've never driven into a river, i'm not that stupid and stupid people or indeed ignorant people of the facts blame anything or anyone for their own stupidity .. now having said all that in the defense of modern sat navs , let me add its unbelievably stupid of some one or some persons to actually add it to the driving test .
I don't know how Satnavs are going to be covered in the driving test unless by some extremely stupid questions - like :-
"Your Satnav points you to a 3 ft wide muddy path signposted "Footpath to Little Bumstead". Do you (1) Drive down it backwards; (2) Dial 999; (3) Complete your journey in a bulldozer; or (4) Find an alternative route."
... which is not much sillier than some of the questions in the existing theory test. Otherwise use of a satnav is always going to be a matter of personal style. I rarely simply punch in the destination as I usually have an opinion about the route I want to follow. Like I prefer to go to Holyhead via the A5 and not the A55 North Wales Expressway; would that get me a fail?
"Your Satnav points you to a 3 ft wide muddy path signposted "Footpath to Little Bumstead". Do you (1) Drive down it backwards; (2) Dial 999; (3) Complete your journey in a bulldozer; or (4) Find an alternative route."
... which is not much sillier than some of the questions in the existing theory test. Otherwise use of a satnav is always going to be a matter of personal style. I rarely simply punch in the destination as I usually have an opinion about the route I want to follow. Like I prefer to go to Holyhead via the A5 and not the A55 North Wales Expressway; would that get me a fail?
they've properly got that one covered under the alternative routes modern sat navs have.. personally i favour the A5 over the A55 too..DrZhivago said:
Maybe best to have map reading skills first, my neibours son passed his driving test, off he went had to call home as he was lost 40 miles away. And a teenager didnt know there was google maps on his phone,
Ah the days of going to a motorcycle rally on a Friday night after the pub , knowing roughly. Where you were going. 300 miles away. With a folded up tent strapped to the bike.
Ah the days of going to a motorcycle rally on a Friday night after the pub , knowing roughly. Where you were going. 300 miles away. With a folded up tent strapped to the bike.
I have resisted to temptation (until now) to comment on this thread, so far we have had conjecture based on a ill defined report. Until we know what exactly what the SatNav element of the test is its just guess work.
But I do agree with Hutch's last comment about map reading. It is I fear becoming a lost skill, and whilst I am still amazed at the technology involved with Sat Nav and how useful they can be on a micro scale especially when you don't know a city, I find them useful as a tool in conjunction with a good paper map that doesn't need a signal or batteries.
But I do agree with Hutch's last comment about map reading. It is I fear becoming a lost skill, and whilst I am still amazed at the technology involved with Sat Nav and how useful they can be on a micro scale especially when you don't know a city, I find them useful as a tool in conjunction with a good paper map that doesn't need a signal or batteries.
I have never owned a stand alone sat nav but do use the map application on my phone. So far it has proven accurate in the USA and two of the Canary islands as well as the Uk. It's biggest advantage over a paper map is it talks to me before my turning not tells me I should have turned at the last junction as tended to happen when the BH was navigating.
Er ... you commented on the previous page actuallyProfJohnL said:
I am not sure many people had much skill with paper maps before. You could wonder why the use of paper maps was not always in the driving test, if only simple ones, not necessarily OS.
Those of us who like paper maps will continue to use them in conjunction, as you say. I don't blindly follow a satnav's recommendation; before an unfamiliar journey I first look at a paper map for an overview and then set up intermediate waypoints on the satnav to make it follow the route I prefer.
For me, a satnav is only a device to notify me of upcoming turnings and roundabout exits, not a device to dictate my route. I seem to be the only person who never actually looks at the satnav screen but just listens to its verbal instructions. In fact mine is face down on the parcel shelf. It is the replacement for my 12 year old son giving me verbal directions from the AA atlas on his lap, my having indicated to him the general route beforehand, now that he has grown up and moved on.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/driving-test-changes-4-december-2017
Prof.
see above. It was first mooted April 2016. Sadly a bit more than conjecture
Prof.
see above. It was first mooted April 2016. Sadly a bit more than conjecture
I note that one of the criteria is 'how to use a satnav safely.' Eh?
The thing that fools most people is that they don't know how a satnav works. You are at A and are going to B, so you set your satnav to work out the route, then you deviate from that route. What does the satnav do, calculate the route from where you are to B? No way! It will do everything it can to get you back to what it had decided was the (original) correct route.
Two examples in one: go from here - Harrogate - to St Helens. The satnav will point you through Bradford to the M606, then the M62. OK, but the best route from here is to Wetherby, the A1(M), the M1 and the M62. Further but easier and quicker. It will be on the M1 before it decides you know where you are going.
I used to do that route, but the M62/60/62 around Manchester can be hell in the morning so I go to Skipton, Colne, M65 to M6 to M58 to M57. Further but easier driving and just about as quick. I would be on the M65 beyond Blackburn before it would reroute, in the meanwhile doing everything it could to get me back onto the M62!
Useless is a word that comes to mind
The thing that fools most people is that they don't know how a satnav works. You are at A and are going to B, so you set your satnav to work out the route, then you deviate from that route. What does the satnav do, calculate the route from where you are to B? No way! It will do everything it can to get you back to what it had decided was the (original) correct route.
Two examples in one: go from here - Harrogate - to St Helens. The satnav will point you through Bradford to the M606, then the M62. OK, but the best route from here is to Wetherby, the A1(M), the M1 and the M62. Further but easier and quicker. It will be on the M1 before it decides you know where you are going.
I used to do that route, but the M62/60/62 around Manchester can be hell in the morning so I go to Skipton, Colne, M65 to M6 to M58 to M57. Further but easier driving and just about as quick. I would be on the M65 beyond Blackburn before it would reroute, in the meanwhile doing everything it could to get me back onto the M62!
Useless is a word that comes to mind
What it is doing is logical in its own way. If it is trying to find (say) the quickest route (or the shortest route - mine offers both options), then as you start to deviate from its route, it calculates that it is still quicker for you to do a U-turn and get back to its favoured route. So mine says "Do a U-turn" (no matter how impractical this is, except at a roundabout). Then mine seems to do a recalculation from wherever it is at about 5 minute intervals, and continues to nag to do U-turns until it reaches a tipping point at which it becomes quicker to carry on rather than turn back. It then shuts up and shows a forward route.Woodentop said:
If I have a route preference then I set the satnav up beforehand with intermediate waypoints at a few places, such as in your example around Wetherby and on the M1. Such waypoints need to be on plain bits of road to give time for the changeover to the next stage, not at junctions or town centres.
I occasionally used to make a journey from east to west across the Midlands. I had my own preferred route which I set up with waypoints. But if I left the whole journey to the satnav, the "quickest" route was a huge dog-leg of motorways that was about 40 miles longer than my own route, but saved two minutes (by its own estimation), and its "shortest" route was about 30% country lanes and city side streets that saved about 2 miles. I imagine that some people take such recommendations as gospel.
Not useless; just requiring some judgment in their use.
DrZhivago said:
A huge dollop of rare (formerly known as common, but due to poor edumacation leading to toilet roll degrees over decades) sense, will provide better outcomes.
KeefySher said:
Or to put it another way, What is needed is Good Sense which is often different to Common Sense. :side:
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