Bath Council bans satnav in taxis

[Darren]

Bath Council has banned the use of satnav by licensed taxi drivers whilst on hire or available for hire.

The ban is part of a raft of new conditions with the council suggesting it is not unreasonable to expect the drivers to know the area for which they are licensed.

It seems an odd move. a satnav can provide useful backup to local knowledge although the ban does not affect any journey that starts or ends outside of the licensed area.

Quite how this affects taxi dispatch systems that use GPS enables smartphones remains to be seen. Cordic is one very popular system that allows dispatchers to task drivers to jobs and provide real-time updates to customers on the location of their taxi.

Perhaps the council will now be calling for a ban on their use in emergency vehicles, after all, they should also be expected to have a sound knowledge of their areas too?

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Darren Griffin

[sussamb]

If only ...

I used to work on an ambulance rapid response car. We used to be kept in our local areas, but now can end up anywhere within 3 counties. We (the staff) all know that local knowledge can save time and lives but are told by management that as we have satnavs that doesn't count any more

[Darren]

Local knowledge is, without a doubt, useful. But it seems rather foolish to ban the use of technology that can aid you.
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Darren Griffin

[MaFt]

But surely those devices with traffic warnings would be of benefit to cut congestion - local knowledge or not, you can't always know where traffic will be.

What a stupid idea :/

[simon_ae]

It's the same for the police, I used to know my one town well, but now we cover anywhere in the county good local knowledge is impossible. Without the sat nav I'd never get there!

[M8TJT]

But it says they can use them 'out of licence area'

[kcphoto]

Are they supposed to know every house number as well as the streets. Satnavs direct you to pretty much right outside the door which is very useful in the dark in a long street when sometimes a drunken passenger would have no idea.

[Snudge]

This is the reason I found:
“On a recent multi agency taxi check undertaken in BANES 100% of existing taxis already using satellite navigation systems were found by VOSA inspectors to be compromising the drivers view of the road by being installed within the swept area of the windscreen.
“The systems were required to be removed by VOSA immediately as they were considered to be in contravention of construction and use regulations.”
(BANES means Bath & NE Somerset)

...but they can still be used out of the area?

[MaFt]

Out of interest, are we talking Taxi's here or Private Hire Vehicles? Because they are two separate beasts. I never use Taxis (too expensive) and always opt for Private Hire cars.

[JamesEncliffe]

It looks like some idiot on the council doesn't understand what satnavs really are, or their value to the driver! Use of a satnav enables the taxi to quickly find any address without wasting time and fuel searching a street. The driver can also plot the shortest route between calls, saving fuel again. All valuable features.

As for the position of the device... obviously it needs to be close to the normal line of sight of the driver, to enable easy use without taking eyes off the road. I have seen some placed in the most stupid places, where the driver cannot check the route without looking away from the raod ahead! It does not matter that the screen is within the 'swept area', as long as it doesn't impede visability.

Overall, ridiculous nonsense from the council and the inspectors, none of whom seem to have any common sense.

[DennisN]

[M8TJT]

[M8TJT]

[DennisN]

[M8TJT]

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