Insurance cancelled due to faulty blackbox (RESOLVED)

rudekid48 wrote: »

OP, you can't draw the conclusion that the GPS is always 100m out because of the start of journeys. All GPS devices take a short time to connect to satellites and get a location fix. The time it takes will vary by location, weather conditions, where the device is within the vehicle and several other factors. Your argument would carry more weight if it was consistently 100m out at the END of a journey. Also, unless you are the US military, GPS is never 100% accurate but when performing well should be accurate to 3-10 metres.

The 5% speed example given by another poster is not relevant to your case. I'm not aware of any black-box insurer who would cancel cover for 3 'strikes' of 5% over - it is usually a pretty high threshold to get cancelled - most I've seen range from 30%-50% over the limit for a 'strike' or 100% over or 100mph for instant 7 day notice of cancellation.

54 in a 30 is not a minor infringement - it's the difference between life & death for an unfortunate pedestrian.

The 5% was quoted to show what happened when there is a speed limit change ie a change from 30mph to 50mph, I still get the alert for the 30mph when I am 2 seconds inside the 50mph limit. Hope that clarifies my statement.

lopsyfa wrote: »

The 5% was quoted to show what happened when there is a speed limit change ie a change from 30mph to 50mph, I still get the alert for the 30mph when I am 2 seconds inside the 50mph limit. Hope that clarifies my statement.

If you are going at 50mph, in 2 seconds you do 44.7m, obviously you would be accelerating from 30 to 50 AFTER you passed the sign (because 50 mph sign is where the limit starts, accelerating above 30mph before the sign is speeding) so there would be no risk. If you started accelerating before the sign then you would be at risk of running foul on the black box GPS as it correctly showing you breaking the law.


OP is trying to claim that they drove past the 60 limit, then accelerated up to 54 and the GPS pinged them as still being in the 30 limit - if it was 100m out it would be so inaccurate as to be pointless, there are examples of roads (e.g. the A38 towards Burton) where you are on a 50/60 bit but there are side roads that are 30 running parallel that are 2-3m away. What almost certainly really happened is that they are accelerating before the sign so they are doing 54 when they pass the sign i.e. speeding


Moreover, if they knew, from the first warning, that the GPS is so inaccurate, why did they a) not report it to the insurer and b) cross the 60 limit sign and then carefully accelerate up to 60 ensuring they were not going to get pinged?

Nasqueron wrote: »

If you are going at 50mph, in 2 seconds you do 44.7m, obviously you would be accelerating from 30 to 50 AFTER you passed the sign (because 50 mph sign is where the limit starts, accelerating above 30mph before the sign is speeding) so there would be no risk. If you started accelerating before the sign then you would be at risk of running foul on the black box GPS as it correctly showing you breaking the law.

Exactly my point, 2 seconds after the 30mph, is only about 26 metres (at 30mph) but if the gps is out by 100m, it could show me as being 74 metres in the 30mph zone and I could well be doing close to 40mph at that time. Where did you deduce acceleration before reaching the 50mph from my statement?

Yellow_mango wrote: »

This feels like a GCSE physics question.

What acceleration would be required to go from 30mph to 54mph in 100m?

Is such acceleration achievable in a standard road vehicle?

Indeed (v^2=u^2+2as) - I'll leave you to do the Maths but remember 39 is already 30% above 30 speed limit. Therefore, not much acceleration is required to get to a speed at which you may get in trouble with the insurance company.

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I will repeat then - why do you need to be alerted by an electronic device that you are speeding when all you should be doing is keeping your eyes on the road and taking note of the appropriate speed signs?
IMO the OP is clutching at straws and will find it difficult to find insurance now with a cancelled policy on their record.

The OP is saying that they were driving at the correct speed, according to the road signage, but the black box has a fault whereby it is 100m out in the location of the signage.