SatNav mis-use

dacouch

I have the sat nav at the bottom of my vans windscreen in front of me when I drive. I tend to use it as a speedo as well as for directions if I don't know the way which means I don't need to move my eyes as far to check it.

I certainly would not put it any higher than the top of my dashboard

iolanthe07

My sat nav goes into night mode automatically when it gets dark - I thought they all did.

Indout96

My sat nav goes into night mode automatically when it gets dark - I thought they all did.

New Tom Toms do, older ones you had to select it (only 2 clicks) not sure about Garmin.

MX5huggy

Indout96 wrote: »

New Tom Toms do, older ones you had to select it (only 2 clicks) not sure about Garmin.

My 8 year old garmin that I have not updated ever goes into night mode automatically.

Lum

This is a google image search result, but I have seen someone do this IRL..



Yes, that's an iPhone stuck to the steering wheel, I'm sure that'll be lots of fun if the airbag ever deploys.

1886

A few months back I saw a woman with a sat nav stuck on the windscreen directly in her line of vision, I think she was just looking at the sat nav instead of looking through the windscreen!

I also saw a woman driving a taxi, fag in one hand and mobile phone in the other, there was also a child in the back of the taxi. You could'nt make it up.

The British motoring public really show their true colours when we have some thick fog, snow or heavy rain. In fog I loose count of the number of cars with no lights on at all, in snow people drive as if it's normal conditions and when it's raining really hard there's always people who want to drive at 70mph when the visibility is horrendous

Lum

Perhaps the people driving as if it's normal conditions in the snow are the ones who planned ahead and bought winter tyres. I know my AWD car with winters fitted has been good for around 60-65mph in the light dusting of snow that south Wales got this year around, my GF's RWD car (also with winters fitted) has been good for around 50mph. The works Mondeo, which is FWD, a lot heavier and doesn't have winters has been nowhere near as useful, so it stayed at home until the snow went away.

Actually who am I kidding, we all know that for every person who is doing that on winter tyres, there are going to be 20 or so in SUVs or AWD cars with low profile summer tyres trying to do the exact same thing and thinking 4 wheel drive will save them.

Gloomendoom

My wife has an SUV with low profile winters. The low profile didn't seem to hamper it at all in the snow, or anywhere else for that matter.

Lum

Low profile winters are fine, just expensive. You might save money by buying smaller wheels to put your next set of winters onto, assuming that smaller wheels will clear your brakes.

Wide low profile summers, on the other hand, are bad news in the snow.

Robisere

The answer to driving in any adverse conditions, is simple. Leave lots of space between your vehicle and the one in front, drive by making each movement slower and smoother than you normally would. By that, I mean make all your braking gentle and your steering smooth, with no jerky movements. If you leave plenty of forward space, and look ahead as far as possible, as often as possible, any trouble is clearly obvious before you get there.

I know that some will bring up the fact that others will overtake in impatience. So what? Let them go, they are an accident looking for somewhere to happen. Other impatient drivers may "tailgate" you. Fine - drive even more slowly.

For the last 18 years, I have been forced to drive an automatic car, due to a spinal injury making my left leg unable to operate a clutch. In that time, I have driven over the Lincolnshire Wolds in often heavy snow. I have never "lost it" but have seen others, with manual gearboxes, do just that. Smooth and Steady, is how I do it.

As for those who drive in poor visibility, I once drove out of my village with lights on at dusk, to meet another driver that I knew, coming towards me with no lights. He actually 'Flashed' me and when I stopped, wound down his window to tell me that my lights were on! "I know, " I said, but how far away did you see me?" ""About 200 yards." "Well I could not see you until about 50 yards!"

Now he puts his lights on at dusk.