Use of GPS during test?

OoSKYLINEoO

Hey all, my GF has her test on thursday and she's wondering if it would be okay if she used her GPS thing as shes used to using it to check her speed as the cars speedo is in Mph the GPS displays the speed in KPH, would there be any issue with this? Obviously she won't be staring at it the whole time or anything

Alanstrainor

That's a new one for me! But i can't see why not, i mean a lot of cars these days come with sat nav as standard so i'd expect it would be okay. Although, i think it could act as a distraction, is there not even km/h marked on the inside of the speedo?

OoSKYLINEoO

There is but it's quite small you see, i actually find it handy when i drive her car myself your eyes aren't off the road long at all. I suppose she'd be best to go without it just in case!

Alanstrainor

Are there any Km/h markings on the speedo?

geurrp the yard

If the speedo is visible in km then It would act as a distraction. I wouldnt recommend it. Speaking of distractions,I was also told not to have any air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror.

dudara

Testers do turn off the radio - so I'd imagine that the sat nav is a no no. However, I'd go in with it on, and wait for the tester to turn it off.

BTW, doesn't your girlfriend know the limits in mph?

Wishbone Ash

dudara wrote: »

doesn't your girlfriend know the limits in mph?

+1


How has she managed so far!

oneweb

The Sat Nav's speed reading is not accurate compared to the car's own spedometer.

I'd imagine the rule which applies to sitting and passing in an automatic car (you have to sit and pass another test in a manual car if you subsequently want to drive one) would apply to relying on any other device which does not come as standard (in this case GPS).

She may be asked to switch it off, in which case she'll be fecked.

If she's looked at the car's speedo for even a short while she should know where the speeds are on the dial - km/h shouldn't be that small and if she can't read them then she should have prescription lenses!

witnessmenow

Rough guide:

50kmph ~ 30mph
60kmph ~ 40mph
80kmph ~ 50mph
100kmph ~ 60mph

If you stick to those your unlikely to fail?

ztoical

oneweb wrote: »

The Sat Nav's speed reading is not accurate compared to the car's own spedometer.

I actually heard it was the other way round as most car spedo's tend to under estimate the speed and can be off by as much as 10% plus your speed can vary depending on how worn the cars tyres are so more people are using the sat nav speed to judge their actual speed as Sat Nav is set up to a correct speed indicator between two points, similar to certain types of speed cameras.

Heroditas

A car should slightly over-estimate your speed. Thus if it says you're at 80kmph, you might actually be doing 78kmph - thus helping you to not break the speed limit.

Or so I was told....

Carturo

OoSKYLINEoO wrote: »

There is but it's quite small you see, i actually find it handy when i drive her car myself your eyes aren't off the road long at all. I suppose she'd be best to go without it just in case!

Good God. :pac: It's really not hard to see the KPH on those cars whereby MPH is the main unit of speed. Maybe she needs glasses, not GPS.

Wishbone Ash

oneweb wrote:

The Sat Nav's speed reading is not accurate compared to the car's own spedometer.

It's the other way around!

Heroditas wrote: »

A car should slightly over-estimate your speed. Thus if it says you're at 80kmph, you might actually be doing 78kmph - thus helping you to not break the speed limit.

Or so I was told....

They usually overestimate by a lot more than that and I'd say part of the reason is to prevent legal claims from drivers claiming to have been with the speed limit as indicated in their speedometer. It's impossible for it to be accurate as it's based on the rolling circumference of the wheel. A wheel with a new tyre will have a different length to that of one with a tyre worn to the legal limit.

dudara

Whether the speedometer is accurate or not doesn't really matter - what matters is that is what the tester will be using to monitor your speed. So stay within the limit as on your speedometer and you'll have taken care of that aspect of the test.

psycho8itch

A bit late now but.. Hope she passed!