Are there any laws on how much of your windscreen you need to see out of?

wba31

Tuesday morning I had a meeting in Woking, so drove down, and as I was on the M25, a bloke driving an Audi A4 got on before Heathrow, and due to traffic being slow, we were kind of alongside each other for a while, if not he in front or i in front, but in adjacent lanes.
Now I noticed that he had, positioned under his rear view mirror, a tablet device, i presume acting as a sat nav (I have the tomtom app on my iphone 4 and its brilliant, it also saved me £50 on buying an actual tomtom unit!)

But my query comes, that the way the tablet was positioned, his view through the front window minimal, as it blocked so much of the windscreen. Are there any laws that could mean a police officer (if one of the few were about) could insist on moving, or removing from the windscreen the tablet to improve visibility? or is it just about common sense?

Bongles

See the second bullet point here. It's a Highway Code "MUST" and the law it refers to is Construction and Use Regulation 30.

Nilrem

IIRC you're meant to have a certain amount clear (possibly the sweep of the wiper?), I can't remember if it's specified in law, but suspect if a police officer saw someone with something blocking much of the view they could find something to do them for (dangerous driving possibly if it's really bad)

The Highway code says the windscreen should be kept clean and obscured from memory, and suspect it may be covered in the construction and use regs in more detail.

Nilrem

Bongles wrote: »

See the second bullet point here. It's a Highway Code "MUST" and the law it refers to is Construction and Use Regulation 30.

I had a feeling it was in Construction and Use

wba31

It's interesting that it says the windscreen must be clear of obstruction, so in theory even small sat navs could be classed as an obstruction.

There ought to be guidance on safe sat nav position, i see many people with their sat nav immediately above their speedo, i wouldnt be able to see where i'm going if i put mine there...

Bongles

wba31 wrote: »

It's interesting that it says the windscreen must be clear of obstruction, so in theory even small sat navs could be classed as an obstruction.

Potentially I guess, although depending on the driver's position and the shape of the front end of the car, it's sometimes possible to put a sat nav on the windscreen such that the only thing it obscures your view of is a piece of the car.

wba31 wrote: »

There ought to be guidance on safe sat nav position, i see many people with their sat nav immediately above their speedo, i wouldnt be able to see where i'm going if i put mine there...

Slap bang in the middle of the windscreen a bit below the rear view mirror is the one that always gets me. I hear what you're saying, but on the other hand there ought not to need to be guidance on safe sat nav position. If someone can be too dim to realise that putting a sat nav in the way of where you need to be looking is a bad idea, but still manages to pass a driving test, that suggests something about driving tests...

custardy

wba31 wrote: »

It's interesting that it says the windscreen must be clear of obstruction, so in theory even small sat navs could be classed as an obstruction.

There ought to be guidance on safe sat nav position, i see many people with their sat nav immediately above their speedo, i wouldnt be able to see where i'm going if i put mine there...

for me the only place to have it is right at the bottom drivers side of the screen
I can easly see it without it being in the way

Bongles

Nilrem wrote: »

IIRC you're meant to have a certain amount clear (possibly the sweep of the wiper?)

Sweep of the wipers is talked about in MOT requirements.

Joe_Horner

There is guidance - it's the rules that determine whether or not your screen will pass an MOT. From the official VOSA testing manual:

http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/doitonline/bl/mottestingmanualsandguides/mottestingmanualsandguides.htm

(browse for section 8.3)

So, anything bigger than 10mm directly on front of the driver, or anything bigger than 40mm anywhere else within the swept area of the wipers, is unacceptable.

They specifically mention sat-nav mounts as fails but, unusually within the MOT scheme, the tester is allowed to remove them and advise (although he can just fail if he wants)

Aretnap

There's also Construction and Use Reg 104 which you can get penalty points for breaching.

No person shall drive or cause or permit any other person to drive, a motor vehicle on a road if he is in such a position that he cannot have proper control of the vehicle or have a full view of the road and traffic ahead.

So no actual percentage specified there. Unless there's case law on the subject, whether or not you have a full view seems to be a question of fact for the individual court to decide.

NBLondon

custardy wrote: »

for me the only place to have it is right at the bottom drivers side of the screen
I can easly see it without it being in the way

That's where I used to put mine. But my wife prefers to put it on top centre of the dash. Most built-in ones are top centre of the binnacle.

All I can think is that if you are used to looking up and left for a direction sign then that's the instinctive place to look for a satnav whereas down and right takes a thought.

On the third hand (just call me Zaphod ) my brother-in-law places his lower on the centre console and relies on the voice to tell him which exit as he looks up at the junction sign.

I agree with the OP; a 3,4,5 inch satnav or phone is one thing - a 9,10,11 inch tablet seems dangerous.