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Post by silverdragon on Sept 9, 2015 8:08:29 GMT
Just where is the driving distracted thread?... I am sure we had one, if we do, can this following be tagged on the end of it, but so far, all I can find is summer driving IDIOTS.... citadelofmyths.freeforums.net/thread/643/summertime-driving-idiotic?page=2Anyway, I need to add a new category into the "Distracted" tests. Having a bloody argument. Has anyone NOT witnessed this?... And I am sure there are plenty of video's... You driving along and you witness a car driving a bit erratic, is the driver drunk, on the phone, playing with the radio?.. As you get closer, the twit driving is having a heated discussion or argument with the passenger.... Yes this has happened in my own car. But not for long... I find a place, stop, have the argument away from the car. If "The passenger" is not agreeing that this is a bloody silly place to have an argument they are invited to walk. Or find alternative arrangements. On one occasion, twit who wouldnt stop fiddling with the radio got about 1500 yards from the depot, before I turfed his backside out and told him to "Go away". He had been warned three times to stop that, and he decided to continue being silly. He was known for being a plank with the radio on multi-person team jobs, and I had just not had a good start to the day so want in the mood for his twerp-ness to continue winding us up... He had been sat furthest away from the radio on purpose, but just leant over the person next to him... 3 seat cab, radio on my side of the cab. I cant work with people like that, especially when I an the senior person in that team. I carried on with the other guy in the cab and we did the three-man job without any extra help quite nicely without twit as a distraction.... In fact, it went a lot easier without him?. Anyway, if anyone has any other further gripes for Distracted Drivers, enter them below, as a collection in case they ever do a re-do on distracted driving and want other things to test. |
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Post by the light works on Sept 10, 2015 3:33:43 GMT
during the fill the boot collections I get a golden opportunity to notice distracted driving - so I saw one guy looking something up on his phone while he had a perfectly good navigator right there.
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Post by silverdragon on Sept 10, 2015 6:31:29 GMT
Dont get me started on Sat Nag.
I had a very vocal argument with one, for illustration purposes, with a full cab on a team job one time (Four seater cab) when I started taking the usual route with short cuts.
the sat-nag was put on to find the exact destination inside a business park that I know very well.
As I state, I am taking short cuts, and every time I did, the sat nag would remark "You have gone off route"
Followed by "Turn round at the next opportunity" and then "Recalculating route"
They turned it off at my last shout of "Recalculating?.. my PHONE can work that out faster than that dumb cow..."
The voice on that sat nag was that nasty piece of work stuck up cow that sounds so condescending and talks to you "calmly" like you are a four year old, the one that says "Doors closing" in a lift...
Not distracting for me, because I will turn it off if it gets it wrong.
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 10, 2015 6:47:36 GMT
Whenever I buy a new GPS, the first thing I do before I use it is to go to settings and turn off the voice. It's just too damn annoying!
Besides, I never go anywhere without having a mental map. The GPS is only on to give me an idea of time to target and to help me make all the small turns through cities and the final turns as I get close to target. That and it's a more accurate speedometer than the built in analog one in the car, which can be off by as much as 7.5 MPH, depending on how fast I'm going.
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Post by silverdragon on Sept 10, 2015 7:36:30 GMT
Thats why I did the "I had a very vocal argument with one, for illustration purposes,", I stated the Sat-nag was useless when you know where you are going, they said it would find the fastest route.
I won.
Another vehicle that took the route suggested arrived later annoyed and frustrated by traffic delays.
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 10, 2015 10:02:23 GMT
Thats why I did the "I had a very vocal argument with one, for illustration purposes,", I stated the Sat-nag was useless when you know where you are going, they said it would find the fastest route. I won. Another vehicle that took the route suggested arrived later annoyed and frustrated by traffic delays. I know that one all too well. I've never had a GPS that would actually show me the quickest route and I think I've figured out why. A GPS doesn't take traffic lights into account, neither is it programmed to adjust for speed reductions when turning, or generally when you can legally do a certain speed on a road, but the amount of twists and turns don't allow you to go at that speed safely. It's getting better with every map update (at least for the one I have now), but many local speed restrictions aren't registered either and having to take 10-20 KPH (6-12 MPH) off your speed for 500-1000 yards 8-10 times during a trip will make a difference in when you get there. The trip that first got me to revise relying on GPS was one just like that. The trip was about 100 km (roughly 60 miles) and regardless of what route I'd chosen, couldn't be taken primarily on freeways/motorways. I had to do the country road thing for most of the trip. I punched in the address and the GPS told me it would take around an hour and 15 minutes. 90 minutes later, the GPS was telling me it would be another 10 minutes. I arrived 15 minutes after that. The route it had chosen for me was this bendy, windy thing. Theoretically, I could have done 80 KPH (50 MPH) the whole way, but in reality, I never got above 65 KPH (38 MPH), because the layout of the road just wouldn't allow it. Additionally, it took me through a few small towns where, again, theoretically, I could have done 50 KPH (30 MPH) straight through, but never got above 35 KPH (20 MPH) because of all the traffic lights and roundabouts. The GPS failing to take all those things into account cost me an additional 30 minutes of driving, so when I needed to go home, I brought out my trusty road map. I plotted a route that, although a little longer (about 25km/15 miles), would take me in an inverted V shape around all those little towns and avoid all those bends and twists, allowing me to keep a more steady speed the whole way, ultimately also saving me fuel. I measured out the length of the route, assessed that my average speed would probably be around 75 KPH (45 MPH) for the whole trip and came to the conclusion that I would be home in about an hour and a half. An hour and 25 minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot in front of my house. Since then, I've never relied 100% on GPS. |
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Post by the light works on Sept 10, 2015 13:39:57 GMT
the nature of my job (jobs) means that I occasionally have to go somewhere I haven't quite gone before. my phone has onboard sat-nag, and it has the feature that I can set it to work, and then turn the screen off and drop it in my pocket then it will only speak to tell me of the turn. It is already pretty advanced and adaptive - I believe I mentioned on the last vacation, it told me of an alternate route that would save me 45 minutes, which I didn't take seriously until I hit the back of the traffic jam from the car crash. it also doesn't do that annoying "recalculating" message. if I change the route, it keeps its opinion to itself, and adjusts its route to fit what I've done.
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Post by silverdragon on Nov 2, 2015 10:12:52 GMT
Whats more distracting than a sat-nag getting it wrong.
Need to bump this thread for a sort of angry-ish conversation I had with someone who needs a slap of reality.
I know where somewhere is, and can give directions.
"Can you program it into my sat-nag"...
No I bloody well cant....
Here is an A-Z, this is where it is, YOU do the work....
No you cant "take" my A-Z, I need it..........
Didnt matter anyway, they cant navigate with a map book (A-Z is a popular name for any street map on printed paper...?..)
They had NO IDEA how to take information from a map and put it into a sat-nag.
"Cant you even find it on a sat-nag?..."
I have no idea how to even try... I do not use sat-nag at all. (By choice...)
Plus your screen is soo tiny I cant actually see whats on it?...
The irony that they cant work out how I have managed to build up a country-wide mental map of UK in my own head with no electronic help, from the days before electronic help was even invented, is lost on them, because I cant tell them how to program THEIR sat-nag.....
So how do I navigate around places I aint been before?...
There are precious few places I aint been before.
And here is a bag of Maps....
And here is my "pad", my own personal electronic device, that no you cant "borrow" that either, that can find me places on Google Maps and give me not just street, but satellite view, even road view these days, that I check in with before I travel anywhere so I know where I am going before I start....
(I also save images for use when my pad dont have a connection to wifi.)
[in a sort of condescending they-know-better voice]"But sat-nag is soooo much easier... you need to try it... you will be sur[CUT....
I interrupted them at that point.
I HAVE tried sat nag, and thats why I dont use it, its terrible, it CANT navigate a truck this size down narrow roads, it cant avoid low bridges and is bloody useless when a road is shut.
Knowing where you are going before you set out is the trade mark of a professional driver, knowing which roads you can use and cant is experience, knowing that sat nag is bloody useless is a mark of a seasoned professional, not needing a useless nagging voice telling you that you should go down that flooded road, immediately knowing an alternative route when an accident blocks the next one, and not getting lost, EVER, in the last 10 yrs... why the hell do I ever need to think I would be better with a electronic babysitter designed to confuse?...
So why is this here and not in "Need to vent"...?...
Because I fully believe reliance, over reliance, and ONLY being able to travel by sat-nag is a distraction.
It needs to be discouraged from those drivers who use it every day....
And yeah, I have been in a vehicle with the sound on when driver uses it to go to their local supermarket....
What is it a bloody toy?.. you have been here every week for the last 5 yrs and you cant find it without that thing?......
Having backup maps that can plot an alternative when all else fails... priceless.
Having planned ahead and knowing all routes, including the alternatives, is where I start getting paid.
Having NOT studied a map before you set out and just putting the address in a sat-nag and then following vague directions from a voice that cant see ahead?..
Maybe this does need to go in the vent thread.
But I also want this considered for anyone ever doing a distracted driving test, to see if its better to study maps before you go, or drive "Blind" being distracted by a voice telling you to "Turn left now" as you go over a river.....
As for the sat-nag ijurt?... she was given directions by office staff who knew how to work the sat-nag.
I did hear part of the conversation from the office staff who was telling her "When he says he dont need sat-nag, he dont need sat-nag, he knows places I never even heard of?..."
So I question, what is more distracting, a sat-nag getting it wrong, or having to pull over (Safely) every now and again to read a map?..
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Post by the light works on Nov 2, 2015 15:49:33 GMT
definitely having directions from any source go wrong is the most distracting of all.
in fire response, if the location is in any way in question, it is my habit to pull up the sat-nag map and take a quick look at it to see where I am wanted - and that includes the fact that there are streets that appear on our city maps as a dashed line - because the street, itself, is a dashed line. we also have 5 different roads named various combinations of the words deer, lane, and drive. once the satnag map has let me know what neighborhood I am going to, I often ignore the routing, but it is also handy in that it keeps the address where I can quickly reference it.
making cross country runs, I like having the satnag running, because it can, as I have found, download accident notifications, and it has information about how long I have until my next turn. - and reminds me when it is coming up, in case I get distracted.
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Post by silverdragon on Nov 3, 2015 7:49:06 GMT
Sat nag and where it goes wrong.
If I enter an address in "Salford", it will take me all the way round the M60 to close to there and off at the next junction...
I listen to the radio for the usual hold ups, and decide cross-town on the inner ring road is going to be much easier.
If it can do that in Manchester, I gather its also going to get it that wrong in other towns?...
I would rather the address, and work my Own route.
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Post by the light works on Nov 3, 2015 15:14:34 GMT
Sat nag and where it goes wrong. If I enter an address in "Salford", it will take me all the way round the M60 to close to there and off at the next junction... I listen to the radio for the usual hold ups, and decide cross-town on the inner ring road is going to be much easier. If it can do that in Manchester, I gather its also going to get it that wrong in other towns?... I would rather the address, and work my Own route. It is the difference between letting it be the navigation aid, and letting it be the driver. our rule in the fire engines is that the driver has the final say over where he is going to drive the truck - though if he overrules incident command he may be called on to explain why. |
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