News & Press

White van man follows satnav into river

Fri, 4 Oct 2019 20:53:13 GMT

The driver was called ‘unbelievably stupid’ after following his satnav, which saw the van half-submerged in a tributary of the River Ure near Ripon, Yorkshire.

The front-seat passenger, who had directed the driver using the satnav, commented ‘The emergency services said we could have lost our lives if we were 2 ft deeper. We would have been swept away down the river. It was proper bad. It was flowing really fast, about 70mph apparently.’

Shocked witnesses had called the emergency services, which deployed fire crews, 2 police cars and a water rescue team. A rescuer clad in scuba diving gear had to aid the operation to free the group of 2 people and a dog.

The fire station manager criticised the van's occupants for ‘reckless stupidity’ after he asked them why they had attempted to cross the flooded river: “I had one question only: ‘Why did you attempt this?’ The response was ‘My satnav said this way.’ . . ‘Unbelievable stupidity’. . ”

Details from The Mirror

what3words adopted by first air ambulances

Sun, 11 Aug 2019 11:02:32 GMT

Institute Duke of Edinburgh Prize-winners ‘what3words’ is being used by Thames Valley Air Ambulance to find patients faster in medical emergencies.

Problems often occur in hard-to-reach or rural areas, but now a 999 caller can give a 3-word address for their precise location to within 3 metres, and this can be used by the air ambulance to find them.

Air ambulances join 30 other emergency services to use the location system. To find out more about the system and download the free app, go to what3words.com

TopNav 2019 bookings open

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 16:23:51 GMT

This year’s visual navigation competition for private pilots is now open for booking.

The 2019 event is to be held simultaneously at Bodmin, Compton Abbas and Peterborough Business Airport (Conington) on Saturday 18 May and at Solent Airport (Lee-on-Solent/Daedalus) and White Waltham on Sunday 19 May.

The competition is for a 2-person crew - pilot and navigator - but extra crew-members may be carried. Each aircraft will be fitted with a GPS tracker to check where it actually flew during a flight of around 80 minutes.

Entry charges are very modest, thanks to sponsorship from Pooley’s, and landing fees are waived. Most importantly, the day is great fun as well as instructive, and visitors are welcome.

To enter, click on Registration

Older drivers and satnavs

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 22:28:36 GMT

A recent study has highlighted the effect of ageing on the ability to use vehicle satnavs.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued the report ‘Older Drivers and Navigation Devices’, produced during the Summer of 2018.

The project examined older adults’ driving performance whilst driving to a familiar destination without navaids and also when following new routes using paper directions or a satnav.

It explored the effects of experience/familiarity in using satnav on driving, route-following and manual destination entry performance. It also investigated the impact of training in satnav destination entry performance as well as in subsequent driving behaviour.

Results included that:
- On average, all age and familiarity groups exhibited better driving performance when using satnav compared with paper directions.
- 70-year-old and older drivers who were previously unfamiliar with the use of satnav had the poorest driving test scores.
- People in their 60s performed better at entering destinations on satnavs.
- Also regarding data entry, those familiar with satnav outperformed those who were not.
- Training on the use of a satnav did not improve driving performance, but did improve performance on destination entry tasks.

The bottom line of the study suggests that satnavs are difficult for older drivers to program, but training can improve their ability to correctly enter destinations.

Final remarks are that driving performance benefits that such systems may afford cannot be realised if a user cannot correctly input a destination or becomes frustrated and rejects the use of the satnav altogether.

Details from NHTSA

Government to produce roadworks map

Sun, 2 Sep 2018 21:18:40 GMT

UK drivers will be able to plan journeys better to avoid roadworks, thanks to a new digital system funded by the Government.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is investing up to £10 million in ‘Street Manager’, a digital planning service due to be launched in 2019. This will replace what the Government calls ‘a costly and ineffective system’ - making more consistent, accurate data on road works available to motorists.

Street Manager will generate real-time data and will be free for technology companies and app developers to use. This could allow existing apps and providers to enhance their services, making them more accurate, and let other companies create new products to help drivers avoid jams.

The Government Roads Minister comments:
‘Roadworks can often be frustrating for motorists, especially when they cause hold-ups at busy times and delay journeys. We want to reduce this disruption and delay, and Street Manager is just one of a number of actions we are taking so that local authorities and utility companies can better plan and manage their roadworks. The data opened up by this new digital service should enable motorists to plan their journeys better, so they can avoid works and get to their destinations more easily.’

The DfT explains that Street Manager will replace an out-of-date and ineffective system currently in use by local authorities and utility companies - allowing them to accurately record and share data better on the 2.5 million roadworks that take place in England each year.

Details from www.gov.uk