[Gary]

A car was wrecked after the Sat Nav system guided the driver onto a railway line:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/6646331.stm

Police advise all car drivers who use Sat Nav to proceed with caution at all times!

Unless your name is James Bond and you are in a Mercedes Benz pursuing a Russian with a thermo nuclear device!

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[7113]

QUOTE (Gary @ 11 May 2007, 15:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Police advise all car drivers who use Sat Nav to proceed with caution at all times!

Unless your name is James Bond and you are in a Mercedes Benz pursuing a Russian with a thermo nuclear device!

Happy modelling
Gary

Ah yes but that Merc did have rail wheels fitted!!

Regards

John

Ps - reminds me of a bus I know..........

 

[Gary]

QUOTE Ps - reminds me of a bus I know..........

Colonel Stephens I presume?

How would Sat Nav have coped if the Colonel was in charge of Network Rail?

Now wouldn't that have been interesting...

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[alastairq]

has technology reached such a state of acceptance that it has actually substituted itself for human thought?

 

[dwb]

This reminds me of a story from the early days of sat nav. A german driver found himself in deep water when he took a turn advised by his sat nav system only to discover that he needed to wait for the ferry first....

There is also problem with HGVs using sat nav to find their way around blockages caused by trunk routes closed due to accidents. About this time last year, the A34 northbound was closed in south Oxfordshire. I happened to be travelling home southbound on the B4009 that evening and passed several car transporters (empty) in the country lanes south of Streatley. For those not familiar with the area, there is a long _very_ steep hill down into Streatley from there. I have heard that sat nav companies are working on improvements so that HGVs don't get sent down unsuitable roads.

David

 

[alastairq]

rarely ever happened in the days of maps.

as said before, have we reached a point where reliance on technology has insulated us?

I KNEW there was something suspicious about all this DCC stuff!

 

[KODIAK BEAR]

QUOTE (Gary @ 11 May 2007, 15:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A car was wrecked after the Sat Nav system guided the driver onto a railway line:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/6646331.stm

Police advise all car drivers who use Sat Nav to proceed with caution at all times!

Unless your name is James Bond and you are in a Mercedes Benz pursuing a Russian with a thermo nuclear device!

Happy modelling
Gary

Ah yes i remember that. It was a female diver who was told by her sat nav to turn left at the level crossing and carry on driving etc !

Please, i dont care if it was female or male driving but if you cannot think, hang on, this sat nav is sending me onto a railway line, this is dangerous, then i have no sympathy for thick sad muppets who want to become lemmings!

i mean, if the sat nav said, you need to turn left here at dover, over the cliff and now you are at your destination, the beach, would you do it??????

i think she should have had the book thrown at her for putting peoples lives in danger as well as her own. If not, detain her under the mental health act !

and tv adverts for womens car insurance say women are the safest drivers !
what cobblers, just as bad as us men !

 

[goedel]

QUOTE (Gary @ 11 May 2007, 15:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A car was wrecked after the Sat Nav system guided the driver onto a railway line:-
According to the article it directed her to cross the railway line as opposed to drive along it, and one should always open the gates both sides before making such a crossing - instead of parking across the tracks to open the second gate!

Cars unlike people are not squashy and there is always a risk of derailment of the train and injury/death of the passengers. This really helps make the case for replacing all the un-manned or non-automatic crossings and ideally they should be replaced by bridges/underpasses because I fear human stupidity is incurable. At the very least there should be large warning signs and no half-barriers in use!

What is far more annoying and stupid is people who commit suicide by parking in front of a train - if only they got out of the car and stood in front of the train then not only would death probably be more instantaneous for trains not travelling at the highest speeds but more importantly no risk of derailment. Or is that the point with these car suicides, they want to hurt other people who they hate for being happy? If only they would drink a bottle of ethylene glycol...the Human Condition, a complex thing...

Goedel

 

[alastairq]

perhaps it's a ''going out with a bang'' thing?

rather than a 'going out with a splatt'' thing?

 

[alastairq]

QUOTE ideally they should be replaced by bridges/underpasses because I fear human stupidity is incurable. At the very least there should be large warning signs and no half-barriers in use!

cost, cost , cost!

but you are right....although I don't think 'stupidity' is altogether right.

If one seeks information from the British Transport Police, concerning abuses of level crossings, one might find that modern 'arrogance' is a more appropriate trait?

In the name of 'cost, we have seen a reduction in 'signal' boxes, and the elimination of 'crossing keepers'.

the only 'human' side involved now, is that of the public at large.

one only has to look at the roads, and driving standards, to see the folly of replacing one bus driver, with 70 pasengers, with 70 cars and 70 drivers?

I for one would be happy to become acrossing keeper, or minor signalperson, with a small tied cottage to live in, by the trackside.

massive income isn't everything.

 

[John Webb]

It would seem from the newspaper article I read that this was an 'occupation' type crossing on a very, very minor country lane. It clearly was a 'user opens gate' type crossing, no warning lights or automatic barriers being involved. I suspect that any signs present were possibly old cast iron ones, which would be near-invisible in the absence of street lights; if newer reflective ones were present she certainly missed seeing them.

For the UK, the Ordnance Survey (OS) people on their own maps mark every level crossing. Most Sat-navs use UK information bought from OS. It is sheer slackness on the part of those selling sat-nav systems that they do not incorporate information on level crossings and the like in their data to display appropriate warnings on their equipment. After all, if they can warn you that you are approaching a speed camera location.......!

Regards,
John Webb

 

[goedel]

QUOTE (John Webb @ 12 May 2007, 15:24) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>After all, if they can warn you that you are approaching a speed camera location.......!
A very good point, sat-nav manufacturers should be condemned for their laziness. However ultimately it is always the users fault if they insist upon blindy following a little box telling them to U-turn on a dual carriage way, drive into a river or park across a railway line...the mind boggles!

Goedel

 

[trainman]

A couple of months ago, I went to a meeting at Crewe with a couple of mates and the driver who knew the way anyway, decided to see which way the sat-nav would suggest. The thing got it wrong so many times at different locations, in the end, he turned it off. I had thought of getting one, but will stick to my trusty map, or route finder on Internet first.

 

[alastairq]

QUOTE or route finder on Internet first.

even tinternet can be fallible.......

 

[7113]

QUOTE (Gary @ 11 May 2007, 16:41) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Colonel Stephens I presume?
Happy modelling
Gary

Er no......Faller road system on St Laurent en Ardennes. it occasionally takes a right turn off the level crossing.

Regards

John

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (BRITHO @ 14 May 2007, 13:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Er no......Faller road system on St Laurent en Ardennes. it occasionally takes a right turn off the level crossing.

Regards

John

Actually once over the whole weekend !

 

[60134]

The driver has to be up for a Darwin award!

60134

 

[neil_s_wood]

My favourite was the one where an American guy had retired and bought himself a Winnebago and decided to cross the States in it. He was out in the Mid West where the road are long and straight and decided to put the car on cruise control. He then decided that he would go and make himself a cup of coffee as the vehicle was on cruise control. He was unaware that you still needed to steer the vehicle!

The resulting fiasco was actually paid out in court as no where in the manufacturers handbook did it say that you had to stay behind the wheel while cruise control was engaged!