Satnav use in the new driving test
Is that a good idea? What do you think of the other introductions like parking in a bay?
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Brue sounds like a much more useful idea it would be good for walking too, help them with planning holidays etc. Reading a map is as good to me as reading a book. Road safety minister sounds completely ofay (spelling?) With the proposals and current test. Especially regarding reversing. 😉
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The chap I saw being interviewed said that they no longer want to "waste" half the test doing things like being able to reverse around a corner. I call that basic driving skills that are essential to driving a car.
Apparently, they now have to show that they can follow the guidance of a sat nav, My word! How difficult must that be?? Most people just take it out of the box, stick it on the windscreen and get on with it.
Yet another example of dumbing down.
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It is unclear what sort of parking bay they mean. Ones on the side of the road, or a supermarket type one. However, including both types would be good. Parking in supermarkets is often atrocious, resulting in the loss of a bay, which at busy times is just antisocial. What is so difficult in getting it between the lines?🤔
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One of the upsides of satnav is the live feed of snarl ups & traffic jams plus the satnav's ability to reroute around the jam. Satnav is here to stay, introducing training in its safe use can only be a positive particularly so from the safety perspective. The satnav can be as much a distraction as a mobile phone in the hands of a bad driver.
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Apparently, they now have to show that they can follow the guidance of a sat nav, My word! How difficult must that be?? Most people just take it out of the box, stick it on the windscreen and get on with it.
Judging where some folk, inc HGV's end up when they follow them, it is apparently more difficult than you think.😂
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In the Radio4 interview with road safety minister, Simon Jones? the point was raised and ignored that on the test it would be a sat navigation but most youngsters would use their phones. We rarely use our sat navigation, not inbuilt, but I do like it speaking directions, does a phone sat navigation speak or does one have to view it in a similar way to a map?
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I thought I heard the test time was to be doubled? I know I heard 'free driving' time is going to be 20 mins not 10 mins. I don't know anyone personally who has recently taken a test so don't know about this. My children sat theirs 10 or so years ago. Can someone enlighten me. Can you take yourself where you fancy in free driving??
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Agreed, but from what the news article showed, it was simply a case of being able to follow what the sat nav said to them while driving, that was tested. Nothing about the suitability of the programmed route.
The parking thing was a parking bay in a car park. I agree that they should also have parking in a space at the side of the road included......but maybe that's just too difficult to manage so they left it out?
B2 - phone guidance usually does have spoken directions and will often connect via Bluetooth to your radio speakers.
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Perhaps some of the changes are taking into account how generally busy roads are these days and the opportunity for doing a three point turn or reverse round a corner, especially with parked cars, can cause difficulties, more so than it once did. Most test centres seem to be in the centre of towns. Love them or hate them Sat Navs are a fact of life now. If I understanding it correctly that part of the test is driving a course set by the driver, using a sat nav could be a good test of how the driver understands and responds. As with life in general things move on. One thing I am sure about is that I don't think I would want to take my test again!!!
David
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Bakers2- yes my smartphone talks when giving directions. To be honest it is probably more functional than my dedicated satnav. I have read the market in satnav equipment is dwindling as people are more likely to use their phones. If you add integration of phones with in car dashboards into the equation I think it unlikely the standalone satnav will survive.
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I know it's been in place for a few years now, but I disagree with having to know what things are under the bonnet. It's a driving test, not a mechanical competency test & routine fluids eg oil, coolant & screen wash, are all clearly marked these days.
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Reversing around a corner isn't the end product but the ability to demonstratethe ability to control the vehicle in reverse and not hit the kerb etc. A bit like a turn in the road, it's not often needed but something you may well have to do in a limited space in a restricted area. I understood parallel parking get was part of the test. Busy narrow roads require these skills often.
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I didn't suggest you shouldn't be able to manoeuvre your car to where you want it without hitting something or someone, but reversing around a corner, & maintaining a couple feet from the kerb, is hardly something most of us need to do very often. Maybe the parking within the white lines in Tesco/ASDA would be of more use
...... though I'm one of those that deliberately use 2 on the far side of the car park
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+1 a/driver. I'd never use anything but the 'tomtom go mobile' app I'm using now. Superb screen clarity, lighter, thinner & unbelievably cheap for what you get
. PS-with the right settings I find it hard to understand being misdirected, it's never happened to me.0 -
It is to be hoped that all these new drivers setting there sat nav on there phones do it before turning their engines on, or they may lose their licence before they have even got it.
Steve
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I wouldn't mind betting that some of it is intentional. If you have a large car e.g. a Discovery, some of the spaces are hardly big enough. I'm sure some park in between to avoid their car being bashed by other car doors.
I'm fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you view it) as I have a disabled badge and can use larger spaces. Just take a look at how many folk park badly in disabled spaces. I'm guessing next to none.
David
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It is just dumbing down the test to what those who expect driving to be a right and not a privilege are able to do.
Without the three-point-turn and reverse-round-corner there will be no reversing in the test at all. So there will be drivers who expect never to reverse - and that is how they will drive. Only park in the car-park when there are two vacant bays in-line and they can drive through; no turning back even when the sat-nav tells them to turn round.
Navigating with a map is not about looking at the map all the time. It is about working out the route and committing it to memory by using the brain. Turning the map around is a clear sign of no spatial awareness, which is where doing nothing but responding to instructions from an electronic voice takes one as well.
Bring on the driverless cars as that is where this is taking us!
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Sat navs are a great aid to motoring , but they are just that an aid .They are only as good as their mapping systems, if they are not current and road routing has changed , without correct road sign reading ,you are an accident waiting to happen.
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Agreed.
Driving instructors usually teach people how to pass their test (not how to drive) and if there is no reversing in in the test, they will never be taught how to reverse.
We can probably expect more dings on our cars, caused by people who cannot control their vehicle (but are very good at doing what a sat nav tells them to do).
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As a non- sat nav user a thought just came bubbling up
!!Will the Relevant Testing Authority have a list of "Preferred" sat navs to be used in the test ??
The reason I ask is, I have seen the videos of vehicles going into too narrow roads, towards low bridges, and, on one occasion, half way { !! } through a ford. Now should this happen using the approved kit, will they be liable as in " Well, you told me to use it"
P.S. / Edit :-- will the SatNav become a compulsory part of the vehicle that you are in ??
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