[OSM-talk] Sat nav driver's car hit by train

[Lester Caine]

( Forgot to hit reply all ;) )
Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> Robert T Wyatt wrote:
> 
>> It was pretty absent-minded at least; that is, ignoring the posted
>> signs. But it might have been difficult to tell with no lighting, in a
>> downpour, that she was on the tracks. She probably was ignoring the
>> directional and cautionary signs since that's not how she was
>> navigating (in her thinking) and on such a narrow road, it may have
>> been all she could do to keep it between the ditches.
> 
> <way off-topic>
> 
> A big problem IMO is that, in Britain, most people's driving  
> experience is now very, very narrow in scope. Driving tests are taken  
> in city or town centres - even in Rutland, the very rural county where  
> I grew up, the test had to be taken in the nearby towns of Melton and  
> Stamford, and the lessons were oriented accordingly. There's then  
> sometimes a bit of supplementary training on a motorway or a  
> motorway-like road.
> 
> But rural driving on winding, single-carriageway roads, sometimes with  
> dodgy surfaces and - as in this case - unexpected obstructions, is  
> very different. For a young driver from Bromsgrove, as in this case,  
> it's entirely outside their experience.
> 
> Where the satnav comes in, I think, is that it gives her the false  
> assurance that "it's ok to go down this road".
> 
> </way off-topic>

I would second that.
ACCURATE information on road widths is essential as a starting point, and
gated roads should be marked in some way even if they are only to stop stock.

If the navigation software does not handle obstructions then the suppliers
SHOULD be liable in some way!


-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
-----------------------------
Contact - http://home.lsces.co.uk/lsces/wiki/?page=contact
L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://home.lsces.co.uk
MEDW - http://home.lsces.co.uk/ModelEngineersDigitalWorkshop/
Firebird Foundation Inc. - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php