SatNavs stuck on the middle of the car windscreen.Dangerous?

[TangoCharlie]

I see so many vehicles driving with their sat nav unit stuck in the middle of the windscreen.

Surely that is illegal if not dangerous?

A better place to mount the unit is the far left lower part of the windscreen on the drivers side.

Can anyone clarify?

Tc

[MaFt]

i presume that you are not in the uk as you mention bottom left as opposed to bottom right!

in the uk there's no specific law stating where you can put the sat nav but we do have one saying you cannot have ANYTHING blocking your view through the windscreen or of your dials. my brothers father-in-law got done once for having a pack of cigs in front of his speedo...!

so if the police feel you are restricting the view then yes, you could be pulled for that. even if you don't get pulled then it's a silly place to put it!!

MaFt

[TangoCharlie]

my mistake. Bottom right was what I meant.
I was told that even having a chop on your windscreen in line of sight was illegal. So what does that make a satnav stuck on the centre?!

Tc

[garcor]

I personally have my stuck to the flat disk in the middle of dash but just overhanging the front edge of my dash by about 2-3 cm. My windshield isn't obstructed at all and I do get some sun glair protection.
I realize this isn't good in all situations due to the shape of the dash but on my Honda Odyssey it is perfect. Almost like a popup screen.

[richard345]

The question is how seriously would the police treat the positioning of a SatNav on the screen, given the number of people driving around with fluffy dice, dream-catchers and old garters hanging from the rear view mirror.

I guess that if there is an accident involving perhaps a loss of life, they would investigate all possible causes, but I somehow don't think they would pull somebody up for it.

as far as my TomTom goes, it is down as low as it will go, just to the left of my eye line, so my forward vision is not restricted that much, having to glance downwards to view the screen.
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Ric - TomTom 520 DEAD - Passed to the great traffic jam in the sky. Now using Maps & Waze on Samsung Galaxy S4 + CamerAlert of course!

[expats]

I have to say I disagree with this logic. My thoughts are its either tucked completely away from the driving field of view, i.e. not in front of you at all and available for audio direction only, or in the best possible view within an angle of say 10 degrees of the drivers natural angle. But by that, I dont mean directly in front of the driver, but the centre of the windscreen is not directly in front of the driver.

Now why I say this.

If the satnav is placed in a position such that it is visable but needs reasonable, diverted, eye movements, there would be the tendency to take your view completely away from the task at hand. Lets face it, why do you need it in view at all unless you are wanting to refer to it whilst driving. This I think would be the worst possible scenario, even worse than having a 10 sq inch obstruction to view slightly off to one side. The later option at least gives you a chance of capturing brake lights, movement or any other untoward driving hindrance which may arise quicky.

So the other option is go down the road of the in car DVD player. The driver is not allowed to be in a position to be able to view this device whilst moving. Now I am sure most people would want to ascertain what the warning issued by the satnav was or what the complex intersection ahead may look like upon arrival. So this device is now exhibiting the same distracting qualities that the illegal DVD player does.

I am merely playing devils advocate here. I prefer to have the satnav visable on the windscreen and within easy glance (not tucked into the corner). My profession requires me to be able to process multiple information inputs simultaneously in order to effect the safest outcome. But I will agree this is a situation which suits my personality.

If I were to be the governing body (and in the ever litigating society we live in) I would probably err towards not in view full stop.

P.S. I currently have an underperforming wireless keyboard which may make some of this read unusually, with the odd ommitted letter. Extra letters are due to poor 2 finger typing.

[Darren]

The legislation is quite clear on this subject. As with many laws common sense prevails, if you have it in the centre of the screen but at the bottom then your view is not impeded. if however as we have all seen them, it is slap bang in the centre, horizontally and vertically then it is impeding vision and constitutes an offence.

Some of the frankly idiotic places people put then is difficult to understand, I've seen them directly in front of the driver at eye level like some form of HUD and below the rear view mirror and hanging over a dashboard airbag ready to be fired at the driver or passenger at speed!

Many of the positions aren't sufficient to get you pulled on their own but if you get stopped for other reasons or are involved in an accident then you can expect it to be dealt with.
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Darren Griffin

[eyeQue]

I think any GPS unit on the windscreen in the area covered by the wipers, could be deemed a hazard to people outside the car!

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=67849&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
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[AlandEi]

[Darren]

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Darren Griffin

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