Sync 3 Navigation - road speed limit

[Eric Bloodaxe]

33 minutes ago, 1979Damian said:

I 100% agree, whilst it's nice to have a few new toys to play with, it's generally not hard to know what the speed limit is for the area being driven in.  (If anyone finds this task difficult on a regular basis I suspect that you really shouldn't be driving at all)

Copper: "Why were you driving at 70 MPH in a 30 MPH zone?"

Driver: "My car told me it was 70 MPH"

Copper: "Did you not see the 3 speed limit signs showing 30 MPH"

Driver: "Yes, but the car said it was a 70 MPH zone so that's what I was doing"

Hmmmmmm, I don't think that conversation would end well for the driver. 

Clearly a lot of new tech is genuinely useful such as collision mitigation, parking sensors etc but I definitely think that SOME of the stuff that is now being fitted to cars is essentially worthless.

Generally very much in agreement with you and Pete on this  (and clearly in your example the TSR should not overrule what you can - or should - physically see) there are occasions when the technology is a useful supplement to what you can see. The pic I posted above is far from the only example in my locality and I know of another spot where 40 is prominently painted on the road surface but the roadside repeaters display 30! 

I was unfortunately caught out myself last year after almost 50 years, and a large portion of the course I attended was devoted to identifying the correct limits for different vehicles on varying road types. Even the instructors had to admit there was no 100% sure method.

 

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

...and a large portion of the course I attended was devoted to identifying the correct limits for different vehicles on varying road types. Even the instructors had to admit there was no 100% sure method.

 

This is definitely an issue, on the town ringroad here, it has street lights and is lined by houses so people assume it's a 30 zone...but the tiny 40 signs prove otherwise, meaning those of us doing 40 often get cut up or flashed by those believing it's a 30.  A short distance away, the town centre roads are only 20mph but look essentially the same.  Because there's no noticeable change, people aren't actively looking for signs and continue at 30...

Same issue on the permanently restricted section of dual carriageway that's now a 60 zone, there's only one NSL sign as you leave it, so people often miss that and continue at 60 in the overtaking lane being undertaken by everything.

It'd be far easier if town and village was all 30, dual all 70, and anything else 60 with common sense...  

[Oldster]

28 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

This is definitely an issue, on the town ringroad here, it has street lights and is lined by houses so people assume it's a 30 zone...but the tiny 40 signs prove otherwise, meaning those of us doing 40 often get cut up or flashed by those believing it's a 30.  A short distance away, the town centre roads are only 20mph but look essentially the same.  Because there's no noticeable change, people aren't actively looking for signs and continue at 30...

Same issue on the permanently restricted section of dual carriageway that's now a 60 zone, there's only one NSL sign as you leave it, so people often miss that and continue at 60 in the overtaking lane being undertaken by everything.

But with a decent satnav, the change from 30 to 40 or from 60 to 70 would pop up and make life that bit easier. Once a road is digitised it should be possible to keep the satnav info up to date, within limits anyway.

One of the reasons the Ford problem annoys me is that in my previous car there wasn't a satnav. So my wife bought me a 99 quid Garmin which was really helpful in keeping the current limit at the forefront of my mind especially when it changed in an unexpected way.

I'd rather have a useful satnav than a device I can shout at to find me the nearest takeaway.

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

48 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

 

It'd bye far easier if town and village was all 30, dual all 70, and anything else 60 with common sense...  

It used to be like that once......

When I started driving it was 30 in a built up area and 70 everywhere else - simple! 

 

[TomsFocus]

16 minutes ago, Oldster said:

But with a decent satnav, the change from 30 to 40 or from 60 to 70 would pop up and make life that bit easier. Once a road is digitised it should be possible to keep the satnav info up to date, within limits anyway.

One of the reasons the Ford problem annoys me is that in my previous car there wasn't a satnav. So my wife bought me a 99 quid Garmin which was really helpful in keeping the current limit at the forefront of my mind especially when it changed in an unexpected way.

I'd rather have a useful satnav than a device I can shout at to find me the nearest takeaway.

 

Yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with you, I think the TSR idea is a good one...if it worked properly anyway!

 

[Oldster]

 I missed Tom's point that "people aren't actively looking for signs".

If TSR did work ok it would flag them up. The ideal has to be a combination of satnav and TSR with everything feeding into the instrument cluster as one readout so that there's never a conflict of info from the car.

If what the car said was different from what the driver can see........

[IainG]

Hi Everyone. My wife and I have both just bought 2019 Fiesta ST's - identical. Yes, we like the ST Range! Liz's instrument display works perfectly - when the camera sees a speed limit sign it displays right away on the information panel. If there is no sign, then it shows either 30 / 60 /70 as appropriate. On my one it seems that it only works when it "sees" a sign. I think that the Satnav / GPS should always provide the data to the info panel when the camera doesn't, but it is not working. Can't fix it in any menus, but am going to the dealer this coming week. I will post an update for everyone. Iain.

[IainG]

Hi Everyone. Got an answer! Put my Fiesta ST into Dunnets Garage in Thurso today. Technician fixed it in minutes. Apparently it all depends on how the software was set up in the first place. It can either be set so that the only input is from the Traffic Sign Recognition Camera system OR so that the GPS / Satnav can also feed data. Apparently it can only be altered at the Dealers. Some people prefer one way and some the other. Anyway, all is working now. Quite agree that the Mark One Eyeball is the best system of all, but nice to have everything up and running. Hope this is helpful. Cheers. Iain G.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

That's interesting - I'd assumed it was camera + GPS as a matter of course. Thanks for that.