Re: Finding an address for a truck firm

Some morons will accept any evidence, however unproven, that backs up their point of view.

Purditer ( snipped-for-privacy@britishtelecommunicationsopenworld.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes. Smith and Brainstawm are both among them.

Quite, I'm not sure which is the scariest. Brainstawm, becaue he has the power of his position or Smith because he can get the self-deluding car-driving mob on his side if he had a bit more wit.

Brimstone ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

That's easy. Smith is just an obsessed geek on a mission.

Brainstawm is a Chief Cunstubble and in charge of ACPO traffic policing.

I almost suspect that Smith is a very clever ploy by Brainstawm, actually, because he's certainly not doing what he claims to be "his side" any favours.

Maybe I'm crediting Brainstawm with altogether too much intelligence, though.

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Tsk, tsk. Demonstrably untrue.

I already pointed out that this is the fallacy of disputed motive. Which bit didn't you understand?

That'll be a "no", then.

"Tim S Kemp" wrote

It's making a guess based on the fact that cars (unlike boats & aircraft) are constrained to a limited set of choices and can't suddenly leap from one road to another through mid air where there is no junction. Seems a valid enough assumption.

This is a track I recorded yesterday (red line). As you can see, no software would be able to guess (using GPS alone) which direction I took at the Y junction.

Is it insoluble with current technology? Guessing is no good and telepathic computers don't yet exist (though I have had managers that seem to think they do).

So a solution must involve additional sensors. A connection it to the wheel sensor might be a start for some problems. Could a gyro or magnetic compass resolve this one? Studs buried in the road surface might be needed to solve others.

It's certainly true that it doesn't take intelligence to enforce the rules.

You'll find debating with Steve Firth is very tiring.

It's a standard function of the local council, who have to approve any new roads and organise signage for every speed limit change / boundary. Local planners monitor traffic flows and statistics to plan new layouts and change things on a regular basis.

I don't think it is a good idea /or/ that it will happen, but this is not because nobody knows where the roads are or what speed limits they should be, nor because the technology is lacking. There's nothing particularly clever needed.

Brimstone ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, but it might be helpful in setting priorities, not to mention public relations.

Got that database already on mine. Particularly useful in strange towns, where you might not realise the limit has changed due to trying to figure out some bizarre ring road, so a "you are speeding" prompt is quite handy at times.

Less useful in France where the government likes to omit sommat like 30% of roads so as to slow the German "tourists" down or something of that sort.

I still can't see a compulsory limiter system working - added as an advisory tool it has some legs. Having an interlock system to automatically control speed through the cruise control and speed limits definitely makes sense, I would buy that and would often use it, in circumstances where I would use cruise control. Having a throttle pedal that vibrated when over the limit in towns sounds like another convenience. Being able to turn them on and off is a necessary feature.

Having GPS that instantly reported me to the police for speeding 1mph over the limit is a complete no-no and unworkable, as is a retrofit compulsory system with no on-off switch.

Quite, but I'm differentiating between simnply enforcing the rules and enforcing the rules sensibly. Despite his published views on drug legalisation, I wonder if he instructs his coppers to enforce those laws as firmly as he is reputed to those on speeding.

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None of these points being entirely true, of course.

The one on my sat-nav only warns of impending cameras and their speed limit. It won't warn you if you are above the limit prior to this. Which program do you use? There is one which allows a presetable speed limit but you have to obviously change the speed setting yourself when the speed limit changes.

I was nervous whilst driving in France with sat-nav and the POI database for the first time. Isn't any kind of device (even GPS based) that knows where speed cameras are illegal?

What do people think of the following idea. Making the system mandatory for those passing a normal car test. Upon passing an advanced test they could turn off the system if desired.

PrymeNav (also sold as Routis) will warn if you go above the speed limit for the road, but the database is out of date. It's better than nothing, it does give reasonable warning, but it thinks the A38 is NSL instead of the 50 imposed by Worcestershire NIMBYS. And it thinks the A34 is NSL where it is 50.

You're trying to fix what for the most part isn't broken, and your fix is an overcomplex patch over what really is broken. Speed itself is not the evil of society that the powers that be like to claim it is, and if you are truly trying to reduce accidents, and not just the impact speeds, then you need to find a way of stopping cars hitting each other. Taking one element of control away from the driver and putting it into a little box is not the way. Try raising driving standards instead, it'd work wonders.

With an automated system, nothing would improve, bad driving would just manifest itself in a different way.

We perhaps have different perspectives on driving. May I ask what part of Britain you drive around in and how many hours you spend behind the wheel a day? (serious question!)

Dorset. And the driving around here is terrible. When I renewed my insurance the other day, I was asked if I wanted legal protection too - As I pointed out, virtually everyone around here is insured, but they're also blinded by age and blue perms falling in their eyes. On an average drive around town, the speed limit is hardly ever approached, let alone broken, yet most times you can have three near misses in 2 miles during daytime.

In such a small town, I don't do many miles/ hours a week, but it's enough to tell me low speed collisions through sheer incomeptance is the danger in this part of the country. I have driven all over the place in the past though, used to do 100 miles round commute everyday, combining lanes, A roads and motorways, and never saw any serious dangers through excessive speed. Poor observation was common, people pulling out of junctions on the country lanes, or changing lanes at random on the motorways, or overtaking (below the limit) in the wrong places. Or the biggest shunt I saw on the M1, that I was aware enough to avoid, but the person infront couldn't do a lot about. A people carrier didn't notice the traffic had slowed, and too late slammed the anchors on, losing it and slewing wildly in clounds of tyre smoke. Clipped the back of the car infront, who IIRC spun. I would've been collected instead but I was observant of the traffic in all directions, having nearly been collected many times in that sort of situation before. Once again, the driver who stuffed up wasn't going at or over the limit, just not watching the road properly as the traffic slowed considerably.

Of the shunts I've had that were my fault, I can honestly say I was never breaking the speed limit. Driving too fast for the corner I didn't make, yes, but speeding in the camera catcher sense of the word, no.

I do honestly believe, from all the shunts I have been in, as a driver or passenger, or those that I have seen, observation, car control, and/ or utter stupidity have been greater contributing factors than breaking speed limits.

How about an advisory system that informed the authorities when the speed limit was broken?

I have a selection, but the one I tend to use (and has this built in) is Destinator 3.

While it may have road by road speed limit information, none of the systems I'm aware of does this in an intelligent or useful way, but the data exists which was my point.

This would be another not very useful implementation, although I suppose you could make some mileage with it on the motorway having set the limiter to whatever you think is acceptable on that road / in that region.

I dunno about French law, but I can't imagine something that told you what the speed limit was, was illegal in France, as that would mean the speed limit signs themselves were illegal.

Wait a moment, maybe that would explain French driving?

The way I see this is like a parking meter.

I'm in favour of having a timer that automatically sets and vibrates / buzzes to warn me that the parking meter will run out of credit very shortly.

I'm not in favour of a device that forces me back to the car so I must move it, the second the meter expires.

Nor of a device that sits in my car and issues me with a postal fine for the parking violation the second the meter expires.