Failed driving test as sat nav speed incorrect.
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That's how I read the OP, but it does surprise me ... why would they need one? (If it's for judging speed then it's not a calibrated device therefore cannot be used for speed measurements - only for guidance).
Examiners have been using uncalibrated devices (speedos) to measure speed since 1935. What has changed?
In practice, all examiners (and most instructors) can judge speed pretty accurately, and would only use the speedo (or satnav) for confirmation before marking a fault.0 -
Was this the examiner's own sat nav they brought into the car?
Examiners should all by now be using the exact same make & model of satnav, provided and set up in the car by the examiner (it's a particular Tomtom model iirc).
So regardless of whatever satnav the pupil has been using, the examiner (and student) should be using the tomtom provided by the examiner.
** The reason that examiners all use the same make & model satnav is so that pre-created routes can be produced centrally & pushed-out to examiners with regular updates, to help move away from the old-model way of doing things where there were only 10-15 routes around each town that everyone & his dog learned over time & didn't vary much...
Creating them centrally & then pushing them out *in theory* should allow the DSA to respond to feedback on routes, and introduce more mixes of A-roads, country roads (where the majority of new drivers end up dying), etc.. rather than the current way we all did it, where you spend 99% of your time on the same residential roads.
Whether or not any of that ends up happening is of course to be seen - but the rationale for introducing sat-navs in tests does go far beyond simply giving learners practice at reading a screen...0 -
Examiners have been using uncalibrated devices (speedos) to measure speed since 1935. What has changed?
In practice, all examiners (and most instructors) can judge speed pretty accurately, and would only use the speedo (or satnav) for confirmation before marking a fault.
Exactly - and DEs are not supposed to use the satnav either, they are only supposed to use the speedo (officially - in practice things may operate differently...).
And if I remember correctly, you have experience of this business, so would probably back me up when I say that learners who have just failed a test don't always have the best recollection of events...:)
If the DE was suspicious of the OPs speed enough to check (either via speedo or satnav), my money says they were doing the 35mph mentioned (or indeed slightly over, as the OP probably slowed slightly before looking).0 -
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If the car the OP used for the teat had been fitted with tyres a size or two bigger (profile or width) than standard then the speedo could easily read less than the sat-nav speed.0
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Wrong. I used to have a satnav and if you turned it on whilst the car was moving it appeared to work fine, but it was just really inaccurate, like > 10m out and the speed display was often wrong. If you turned it on whilst stationary it was accurate.You won't see a speed on a sta-nav until it has got satellite lock so this is irrelevant.Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
SatNavs tend to under-read when they get signal glitches - some will guess that you are driving at a constant speed in a tunnel for example.
I would suspect though that while decelerating what actually happened is that the examiner had been watching the Speedo over the course of the test and had seen that the driver failed to decelerate sufficiently before the speed sign. Mainly though, there is a lag between Speedo and sat nav and if you look between them as speed changes you will not get an accurate match.
When I have compared devices I needed to find clear sky, straight road, constant speed. In those conditions a sat nav will be the most accurate. Anything else and all bets are off for comparison.
I would expect that although the examiner may have seen the speed on the Sat nav, they also checked the Speedo. OP would not fail for a brief moment of speeding where OP detected and corrected, it is more likely that there was a tendency to slow after a limit sign and did so more than once without the examiner seeing any circumstances like hidden or poorly placed signs.
Don't believe 8mph difference, I think that the OP spotted a speed on the Sat nav while decelerating then looked at Speedo. Any inexperienced driver is unlikely to hold a constant speed - in fact most highly geared modern cars are not easy to keep to speed unless you properly select an appropriate gear (3rd for 30).0 -
Following satnav instructions is a part of the test now - and has been since December.
Depressing, isn't it?
I took my test a couple of years ago, as they were trialling the introduction of the satnav part of the test.
At the end of my last lesson pre-test, my instructor set up his satnav so that I could follow it home. I put in my address, the map home came up showing a large red arrow turning left, and the voice said, "At the end of the road, turn right."
I'm sure it's for the best. Might explain a lot of the driving I've witnessed since passing, anyway!They call me Dr Worm... I'm interested in things; I'm not a real doctor but I am a real worm.
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