Safe Speed Forums

Now that the evenings are darker I have noticed this more and more recently......whilst driving along the M4 i have overtaken the obligatory Middle Lane M*r*n and shining brightly on their dash is a SATNAV unit.

Now is there a link between middle lane driving and operating satnav units? I know they indicate with an arrow straight up to continue forward but does this also mean stay in the middle lane? or is it simply the fact that people are too preoccupied watching their unit (on a straight motorway) to realise that they are also clogging up the middle lane??

I overtook three cars who were in L2, in formation all with satnavs and a clear L1.....

I cant work it out....

No connection to Sta Nav.

Some people are idiots who think the middle lane is a cruising lane. Like the people who drive along dual carriageways in the right hand lane at slow speeds because they are turning right at the next junction even though its 3 miles away....

Maybe it's just that people that swear by sat nav have a tendency towards being MLM's?

Or that the Sat Nav has not told them to get into the most appropriate left hand lane

(i.e. continue on motorway for next 25 miles, consider using a lane nearer the hard shoulder)

Sounds like the perception of an L3 driver to me. It's the only way to pass a lot of L2 drivers and get a look inside their vehicles.

A sort of sample bias perhaps?

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Paul Smith
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I prefer to us a map.
I plan the route in advance, a write it down, and give page refs on my scribbles.(Sad I know)-I get a sort of metal map in my head. On short trips I don't use a map or my scribbles

I do not like the idea of following a computer. I once gave someone with sat nav directions.

I can see the point of sat nav as a navigation aid, but just to jump in a car and follow the computer is silly.

So back to the point, maybe some (not all people) who by sat nav, do not have much faith in their driving ability and do not consider it a skill. This same people are more likely to sit in the middle lane.

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Slight observation, with my satnav it tells me to 'keep right' when I'm on a motorway where lane 1 becomes an extended slip road, I know from looking at it (and the manual) what it actually means is don't follow the extended slip road off but carry straight on along the motorway.

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That is because the maps do not have any data of how many lanes there are, just that this particular bit of road splits into two at some point further down and you dont want to be in the one going left.

It gets particularly annoying when there is a left and a right split, because it will tell you to "keep right then keep left".

You soon get used to what it actually means (unless of course you're a complete idiot and dive into L3 every time). Personally when I get that instruction I quickly glance at the onscreen map of the junction and compare it to the road layout ahead to figure out where it actually wants me to go. It's not hard, seriously. (I also recommend this for roundabout exit numbering)

I think an idiot is an idiot with or without a SatNav.
But in my opinion such drivers will be less of a danger with one.
I also understand a map user’s reluctance to use a SatNav but for me I'm a true convert.
And in the six years I have used them all over the world I can honestly say I have not been let down by one.
Ok once in Norway it took me to the wrong side of the river and they may take you round a route which could be ten minutes longer than needs be but if you have no idea where to go that is a small price to pay.
Hitting Rome at rush hour in the dark in the rain renders a map useless.
If you miss a turn or are in the wrong lane or whatever it would be difficult to replan using a map as you don't even have the option to pull over and get your 'head together'!
I like maps, I can use maps, infact I used to teach orienteering and summer/winter mountain navigation.
I have chauffeured in London with an A to Z as a job but for me SatNav's are excellent and are without doubt a safe driving aid.
They may well have little hiccups here and there as does my P.C. but they are so rare and the pro's far outweigh the con's that you would have to kill me to take either off me.
Seeing a prick driving a car like, well, a prick, does not make every other road user a prick. The same goes for SatNav users.
If they are not your 'bag' fine stick to the maps.
In short the answer to your question in my opinion is no.

Am not anti sat nav, have had TTMobile on a smartphone and now a Garmin Nuvi with traffic alert, I think they are a godsend for all the reasons you've given Paul.

My observation was more along the lines of what would an idiot do when faced with this instruction?? As a possible explanation.

Funny there has been a very heated discussion about sat navs - good or bad on a safety forum I haunt. My point has always been it's the idiot using it that's the problem not the kit.

Unfortunately most of my contemporaries can't get their heads round it. Now wonder the safety 'profession' are seen as a bunch of anal retentives.

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Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk

You obviously haven't tried Satnav with TMC, or used the system to mark the road ahead as blocked when you hear on the radio that the road you're on is closed due to an incident. In the first case, the system uses TMC to automatically route you around congestion, road closures, etc; in the second, the system recalculates the route as soon as you've marked the road as blocked. This is something you can't do with a map while driving. Also, if you accidentally or deliberately deviate from the calculated route, the system recalculates it. With a map, you'd need to first establish where you were, then plan a suitable route.

With the Government hell-bent on road-pricing, I suspect that it won't be long before you can ask satnav systems to take you the cheapest route. When that happens, a good satnav system might pay for itself in just a few months.

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Will