The sat nav fitted as standard to the majority of UK ambulances , when instructed by postcode, directs the vehicle to a Birmingham branch of Pets at Home some three miles away from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Locals have no problem but there are numerous road transfers from elsewhere in the country every day.
The crews have had to rely many times on their own smartphones to direct them to the correct destination.
If the M1, what's wrong with northbound or southbound?
I'm not surprised there was some confusion if you were travelling towards London and said you were on carriageway A. Those are contradictory statements, as A is Away from London (or the start of the motorway for some, such as the M25) and B is Back to London.
Colin Bignell
Sorry, I should have said that all my examples in my posting, both of carriageways and distances from the zero point, were fictitious.
Useful mnemonic "A is Away from London; B is Back to London".
Following this thread, I started looking on M25, there is quite a distance between the roadside phones, quite a long walk...
I once called the RAC, my car is an "L", but the very young lady at the end of the line couldn't fathom it was an "L and keep insisting that it was an "AL" reg :)
Wonder what applies on the M62, which is roughly a constant distance from London along its length?
Like the M25, Away and Back will refer to the start of the motorway, which can be taken to be at or near the lowest numbered junction. (The distances on the M25 actually start on a non-motorway section of the ring road).
Colin Bignell
As is the M25. For that, they use A for Clockwise, and B for Anticlockwise - and, as for the Away/Back logic, that goes with the junction numbering.
So p'raps the M62 goes with the same? A - Ascending junction numbers. B - Back to junction 1.
On two or three lane motorways they are spaced at 1.5km +/- 10%. On wider motorways, the spacing is 1km +/- 10%.
There will be one within 300m of the start and finish of every motorway and at junctions they are placed 300m before an exit slip road and 300m after an entry slip road, with one in the centre of the junction. These are all placed first and the others are placed at even intervals between them.
:-)
Colin Bignell
..but not compulsory. Plenty of folk, especially older folk, still don't have one.
£0.99 at carphonwhus + £10 load + many olders (like meself) are not backwards with technology...
Then they have only themselves to blame. Given the lack of public phones these days.
My wife has arthritis in her hands, and has a lot of trouble holding a mobile, so hates using one.
should she be driving?
There's a simple device which can be bought from most truckstops which can solve most problems with gripping the steering wheel. The same item can be bought for at least twice the price from your handy disabled persons equipment dealer.
I'd rather see one of those on a disabled person's steering wheel than some dork with a phone glued to their ear or texting and reading the screen on their phone while doing 70 on the motorway.
I've met many young people (In their early 20s and 30s) who eschew mobiles.
With an arrow on the marker posts which are set every 100 metres unless they've been destroyed, pointing to the nearest emergency phone.
You should never have to walk more than half a mile to get to a phone.
Yeah security on Android mobiles is a can of worms really. But I use my mobile as a 'phone' to make and receive calls, what else...
Normally, IME, it's more "I want to be in control, and not be at the beck and call of the (Boss, other half, parent....)". There is also a small but significant movement among some young 'uns to eschew *all* things computer like.
So presumably the same problem with any phone?
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