Drivers following satellite navigation systems through a village called Crackpot have been directed along a track at the edge of a 100ft cliff.
h t t p://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/4879026.stm
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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>>have been directed along a track at the edge of a 100ft cliff. >>
Some, it seems, with one wheel hanging over the edge of the cliff.
Have these people no brains?
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Serves them right for going to Yorkshire ;-)
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Ok Blame NavTeq.
Checking the OS for the area - on the route from Askrigg church to Crackpot, there is a track to the lower road at Summer Lodge (over summer lodge moor).
Looking at the terrain this looks like the track.
If you choose the shortest route, TomTom drives you along there as well.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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The Sat Nav in my Peugeot 406 reqularly used to take me along farm tracks. They pretty well all use the same mapping, so (if they're set for shortest route) then they'll probably all do the same thing.
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To misquote deliberately the Douglas Bader maxim on the subject of rules, "SatNav is for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of wise men and women" - with the emphasis on guidance in this case!
Jack
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the same man who lost his legs due to disobeying rules?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Quoting from the Ananova website:
"Many ignore a no through road sign and open a five-bar gate before trying to continue along a gravel track linking Swaledale and Wensleydale."
If you take a look at the road on an OS survey map, it's broken lines either side (not coloured) and sort of red dots inside, which I think means it's classed as "other road, route or track" and because of the dots "other route with public acccess".
More worrying this road is at 1125 feet at the start but ends up at 1570 feet and is only about half a mile long. So a fair old climb if you had a vehicle upto it. Looking on Google Earth it's quite a mountain that the route takes you over.
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Yes it will be steep - I walked from Askrigg (Wensleydale) across that hill and into Swaledale a few times in the 1970s.
Definitely Land Rover country.
Chris Muriel, Manchester
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The BBC News featured one of its reporters attempting to drive a Peugoet MPV along the "road" (a gravel track). He gave up, not surprisingly, whilst a local farmer said it wasn't an uncommon occurance to see cars being driven along the track.
As I asked earlier, do motorists who followed directions so blindly have no brains?
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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As I asked earlier, do motorists who followed directions so blindly have no brains?
i ask myself this same question daily when i am on the queens highway,i havent seen van/wagon drivers driving while holding a map in front of their face (ie driving blind ) but saw it 3 times today within 100 miles,is it still common down south?
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\"a little man in a big world/\"
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Just think what would happen if everyone relied on satnav? I can see there is potential for mischief makers to have all sorts of fun. As much as it drives me mental to get lost I think it is actually more fun to find your way around somewhere even if the local sign makers seem to try and make it as difficult as possible. If I need directions I usually use the AA or RAC websites and print them off.
Satnavs that send you the wrong way up one ways are also a danger. If you are somewhere strange and you miss the no entry sign then you can end up in real trouble. Satnavs kind of put you in driving test mode so you don't always apply the filtering you would with a passenger.
teabelly
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It seems that most of the complaints about satnavs come from people who set them to 'shortest route'. I have mine on 'quickest' and so far haven't been led up the garden path, or mountain track etc.
I was particularly impressed when, coming from the south to central Manchester, my Tomtom had me go further up the M6, then M62 / A602 rather than that ridiculous single-carriageway bit of A556 that someone has forgotten to improve.
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People still map read - saw it on the M3 northbound on Tuesday night - driver was tailgating then dashing out to overtake from middle lane, all with map on the steering wheel.
Agree with Avant - Satnav set on shortest route can be silly - won't do that again - fastest is excellent. Has taken me on a different route than we would have mapped and both better, safer roads. Am looking forward to driving to Borders sans map reader in a few weeks.
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It seems that most of the complaints about satnavs come from people who set them to 'shortest route'. I have mine on 'quickest' and so far haven't been led up the garden path, or mountain track etc.
Agreed - I've never seen the point of choosing 'shortest route', I just want to get there in as little time as possible. Maybe because of this I've not had any problems with the Garmin i3 or the system in the BMW leading me down any wierd routes either. It has taken me ways I might not have thought of going, but the routes have always worked well, and I've got to know some new roads!!
What I also like about the satn nav systems is that you also get to know the names of all the roads, which can be quite interesting at times. Many rural roads I've driven along for years have names I'd never heard of...and I'm not sure many locals have either!!
Peter
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Our local news sent out an intrepid reporter to do this route, report was on last night. There is no tarmac up to the gate, just a limestone track. He was in a Toyota Landcruiser and struggled to get up the limestone loose chippings, at the top of the road the drop is sheer and the road is being eroded. If my sat nav sent me along this way there is no way I'd pass beyond the gate!
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I've never seen the point of choosing 'shortest route'
I find this mode essential for local navigation around side streets in an area I do not know,otherwise the SN will send you to the nearest main road and then off it again,with the realisation you have just driven 3 miles to get to a place that was half a mile away.
When going any distance I always check the map before using the SN,so I have a rough mental map of where I am going,don't like the feeling of driving blind.
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I have had problems with quickest route - in France (foothills of Mt Ventous around Sault. The system assumes all D roads are the same no matter how steep or bendy.
I resorted to setting up an itinery after refusing to use a couple of very minor roads it suggested.
As said before - it is for guidance, not blind obedience.
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I've never seen the point of choosing 'shortest route'
It's nearly always the best option around London.
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Couple of weeks ago I was at East Midlands Airport. Needed to get home. M1 chocabloc south past the A14 junction,and m25 a car park according to the news.
So it was sat nav shortest route. It proved a very interesting route to m25j11 and provided me with avery pleasant afternoons driving.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Never use shortest route, I find it sends you down every tiny back road and housing estate and usually over a million speed bumps.
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Shortest route depends on your system and part of the country !
My in car Nissan system is excellent doing re-routes using shortest route, as it generally picks A roads over Motorways, and is programmable on the fly ! I use shortest route to take me from South Manchester to Carmarthenshire (S Wales) on a regular basis.
Quickest route takes in M6, M5 and best part of 80 plus miles over shortest route and god knows how many extra hours (usual motorway delays) - shortest route gives a 4 hour drive to the dot !
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Sat-nav drivers land in deep water again
By Richard Savill, Daily Telegraph (Filed: 20/04/2006)
Motorists were furious at being stranded in up to 4ft of water yesterday after satellite navigation systems sent many away from a road closure and into a river.
Cars, vans and motorbikes have come to grief because the systems send them across a ford on the Avon, in Wiltshire.
The problem - near the village of Luckington - has occurred because a main road a mile away is closed, following the collapse of a wall, and drivers are warned to "seek alternative routes".
Most satellite systems send traffic into the village and across the ford, known locally as The Splash, in the hamlet of Brook End.
Locals are reported to have been charging as much as £25 to pull motorists out.
Lesley Bennett, 59, a parish councillor who lives next to the ford with her husband Dudley, 63, said a "ridiculously" high number of drivers had been marooned.
"Before the road closure there was one a week but now we're getting one or two a day," said Mrs Bennett, a photographer.
"When the driver's car conks out he looks stunned and when you ask him what happened he says: 'My sat-nav told me it was this way'. There are signs warning about the water but the fools just plough on regardless."
The river, which is close to the source of the Avon and home to trout, ducks and coots, usually flows at about 2 ft deep but can reach 4 ft after heavy rainfall.
"We do what we can to help," said Mrs Bennett. "I offer to dry people's clothes while they wait for help to be towed out."
A depth sign warns drivers of the danger but villagers have complained that it was put in the wrong place. Mrs Bennett said: "The sign has been put where the water is shallowest. It's ludicrous because it means you have to drive through deeper water to get through."
Kevin Assinder, 39, a printing company director from Chippenham, Wilts, was directed over the ford yesterday by the satellite system in his Land Rover Discovery.
He said: "I did wonder about going through but my car had no problems. If I was in a smaller car, I think I'd still be sitting there."
Satellite navigation systems have been blamed for sending motorists on other tricky routes.
This month drivers were sent to the edge of a 100 ft drop on an unclassified road at a place called Crackpot, North Yorkshire. In March, a lorry driver became stuck on a narrow stone bridge off the A383 near Newton Abbot, Devon.
Tomtom, a satellite navigation supplier, said it tried to ensure its information was as up-to-date as possible.
A spokesman said: "Safety is an absolute priority for Tomtom and as such we encourage our customers to report any problems they may have encountered which we report directly to our providers.
"If a driver ever feels they are being directed down an inappropriate road then a Tomtom device can quickly re-route them."
motoring.telegraph
I did not get a good response when I informed TomTom that there voice directions were wrong at three locations in a few miles.
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