There's always one

[Oswyntail]

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ws/motorist-drives-onto-new-metrolink-6122362

The Metrolink line to Ashton opens to the public next week - but this driver decided she couldn't wait that long.

A gold Citroen was driven onto the tracks outside the new Ashton-under-Lyne stop opposite Ikea and became lodged on the line.

Police were called at about 3pm today but were unable to budge the car so a recovery vehicle was called and it was finally freed an hour later.

Is signage on such infrastructure generally bad - or is it drivers?

 

[90019]

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ws/motorist-drives-onto-new-metrolink-6122362

Is signage on such infrastructure generally bad - or is it drivers?

In most cases, drivers.

Granted the signage in some places is pretty bad, but the number of crap drivers out there is rather worrying.
The standard of driving I see from far too many car drivers during my working day is appalling - quite how these people get a licence in the first place is beyond me.

 

[robertclark125]

There's the famous story of a person approaching a level crossing with the sat nav on, and it says next left, and they turned left onto the railway line.

 

[TOCDriver]

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ws/motorist-drives-onto-new-metrolink-6122362

Is signage on such infrastructure generally bad - or is it drivers?

It's probably called Sat Nav. Some drivers would drive into a burning inferno if it said that was the way.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There's the famous story of a person approaching a level crossing with the sat nav on, and it says next left, and they turned left onto the railway line.

I remember that; I think it was in Sussex and it was a retired schoolteacher as well... :roll:


And what about this bit from the report linked in the OP:

In June, a hapless motorist halted a tram carrying hundreds of passengers after driving 200 yards along the Metrolink line and abandoning her car . The Metrolink service carrying around 600 passengers was terminated between stations after the woman was spotted by the tram driver.

Perhaps someone should phone the Guiness Book of Records and ask about what the record is for the highest number of passengers on a tram!

 

[WatcherZero]

There's the famous story of a person approaching a level crossing with the sat nav on, and it says next left, and they turned left onto the railway line.

Theres an airport in Canada I think it was which has had to put up fencing because Satnavs were directing people across the center of the runways!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I think there's something about modern driving conditions especially in urban areas that leads some drivers to think that stopping other than at red lights is simply not an option, no matter how flustered or confused one becomes. This coupled with reliance on SatNavs leads to things like this. As others have said, it's not just in Britain though. I think a few years ago a driver in Belgium ended up driving down some stairs into a sub-surface tram-stop, again after being confused by the instructions of a SatNav! :roll:

 

[Eagle]

Theres an airport in Canada I think it was which has had to put up fencing because Satnavs were directing people across the center of the runways!

It was Fairbanks, Alaska, and it was only a problem with (you guessed it) Apple Maps. For some reason it had labelled one of the taxiways as a public road.

 

[Shrimper]

Perhaps someone should phone the Guiness Book of Records and ask about what the record is for the highest number of passengers on a tram!

There was a concert/event on at the Etihad and the tram in question was a double unit, so 600 is probably not too far off.

 

[Manchester77]

There was a concert/event on at the Etihad and the tram in question was a double unit, so 600 is probably not too far off.

Each tram has a maximum capacity of 206, a double would be 412 add on a few extras squoze in it still wouldn't be anywhere near 600.

For t68s it will be different but wouldn't make any difference in this situation since it wasn't a T68

 

[anthony263]

I dont get why some people get themselves confuse by satnavs. I have had a satnav try to direct me when I have been delivering shopping to customer homes down a very narrow road. I did pull up at the side of the road a little bit further up the main road to telephone the customer to confirm that her house was down this narrow road which it was.

Basically if I dont think it looks right I will ignore the sat nav and check my road atlas/Google maps once I have found somewhere safe to pull up. I would rather do that than get stuck and then having to phone the police if I was dirving a very large vehicle down a narrow lane.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I dont get why some people get themselves confuse by satnavs. I have had a satnav try to direct me when I have been delivering shopping to customer homes down a very narrow road. I did pull up at the side of the road a little bit further up the main road to telephone the customer to confirm that her house was down this narrow road which it was.

Basically if I dont think it looks right I will ignore the sat nav and check my road atlas/Google maps once I have found somewhere safe to pull up. I would rather do that than get stuck and then having to phone the police if I was dirving a very large vehicle down a narrow lane.

And that is how SatNavs (and indeed paper maps before that) were supposed to be used. Sadly, some people are idiots. Even before SatNavs it was pretty common to see people driving along with an atlas resting on their steering wheel- Yet as soon as there's any talk of a clampdown on such bad driving the press get all up in arms about a 'War' on motorists! :roll:

 

[Eagle]

The other problem with satnavs is people don't bother to update the maps in them (if it doesn't do it automatically, as many high-end ones will). Which leads to all kinds of confusion when a road layout changes, a one way system is altered, a bypass opens or, as happened here, part of a road is converted to tramway.

 

[richw]

Signage is irrelevant as surely opening the drivers eyes would of revealed it was not a road but a tram or train track (I realise the car driver may not be able to differentiate between these two, but both are clearly not a road).
When I am driving using my satnav I wouldn't do what it says without observing road signs and looking where I was going. Only recently in Barnstaple my sat nav told me to turn left the wrong way down a one way road. I ignored it using my common sense and rules of the road and then the stupid thing kept saying "turn around when possible"

 

[34D]

Ive seen a demonstration of a high end one. It literally tells you what lane to be in at a junction (the schematic on the screen is that detailed).

And yes, some people will use them all the time (inc on their regular commute!) and follow them blindly.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

To go back to the title of this thread, it would be nice if that were true!

 

[richw]

Ive seen a demonstration of a high end one. It literally tells you what lane to be in at a junction (the schematic on the screen is that detailed).

Mine does this, I don't think its a high end model, This is the model I have. I very rarely use it, and even more rarely use it for directions. Mainly use is for speed camera notifications.

this one

 

[bb21]

Perhaps driving tests should start incorporating finding appropriate routes to an address without the use of a SatNav, and all motorists be tested every five years.

 

[12CSVT]

Perhaps driving tests should start incorporating finding appropriate routes to an address without the use of a SatNav, and all motorists be tested every five years.

In the case of the Citroen driver, testing the ability to use a device called a brain might be more appropriate.

 

[richw]

Perhaps driving tests should start incorporating finding appropriate routes to an address without the use of a SatNav, .

there is a section of the driving test which now involves independent driving. Unsure exactly how this works, but gov website says

How the test works

During your test you’ll have to drive independently by either following:
traffic signs
a series of directions
a combination of both

 

[Hyphen]

there is a section of the driving test which now involves independent driving. Unsure exactly how this works, but gov website says

I took my test a couple of years ago, very shortly after this was introduced. I was asked to demonstrate both.

The first part, I was shown a picture of three roundabouts, with arrows going straight forward at each.

The second, I was asked to follow signs. Amusingly (for those familiar with the area), I was approaching Swansea from the Enterprise Park area (towards the Tawe bridges, not via Landore) and was told to follow signs for "Cardiff, until further notice" - to get back to the driving test centre.

I don't think this could have been more pointless if they'd tried!

 

[anthony263]

I took my test a couple of years ago, very shortly after this was introduced. I was asked to demonstrate both.

The first part, I was shown a picture of three roundabouts, with arrows going straight forward at each.

The second, I was asked to follow signs. Amusingly (for those familiar with the area), I was approaching Swansea from the Enterprise Park area (towards the Tawe bridges, not via Landore) and was told to follow signs for "Cardiff, until further notice" - to get back to the driving test centre.

I don't think this could have been more pointless if they'd tried!

That road layout has been made even more confusing over the last couple of years. Having driven a bus around there recently.

Anyway I had to do about 10 minutes of independent driving when I did my PCV driving test.

I never really trust my satnav when I am driving down rural area's especially the Vale of glamorgan and even around some of the valleys such as Nantymoel where a few street are not even shown correct on the sat nav (i.e when one side is actually a different street name to the opposite side of the road).

Sometimes if your gut instinct is telling you not to follow the sat nnavs directions then bloody well listen to it or if something doesnt look right then use your common sense.

Of course it seems a lot of drivers have lost theirs somewhere

 

[alex17595]

The other problem with satnavs is people don't bother to update the maps in them (if it doesn't do it automatically, as many high-end ones will). Which leads to all kinds of confusion when a road layout changes, a one way system is altered, a bypass opens or, as happened here, part of a road is converted to tramway.

My grandads TomTom is 10 years+ out of date and they wanted £24 for each map update!!
The TGV into Spain was non existent on it!

So we used it and was fine apart from some junctions had been remodelled. This was 1000 mile trip to south of France and with a caravan. Luckily we had a brand new road map and I had downloaded some detailed ones.


The problem is people don't check the sat nav and assume it is perfect, just a quick flick through Google maps with give you a basic idea of where you are going.

 

[Hyphen]

That road layout has been made even more confusing over the last couple of years. Having driven a bus around there recently.

Oh that I'll agree with... last time I used that junction properly (straight through City <> Fabian Way isn't that bad) I tried to work out what lane I needed to be in for Fabian Way/M4 (from New Cut Rd) and almost ended up heading up Pentrechwyth way. Luckily managed to pull right as three cars did the same behind me.

That entire area's a mess though including the Boulevard, it's just lucky most of my travel is either train or buses which go other ways.