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back to article Ditch satnavs, urges ambulance chief

Ambulance drivers in North East England have been told to reduce their reliance on satnavs when speeding towards emergencies after too many of them arrived on scene late. Paul Liversidge, Director of Ambulance Operations in the North East, warned that GPS gadgets should only be used as a guide. In a memo to staff, he said he …

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  1. David Morris
    Thumb Down

    Comepletely agree

    Several years ago, we had to call an emergency ambulance out for my Dad. The emergency services had the full address but couldn't find the house. Why? Because the road name reported by the satnav (a major road on the outskirts of Sheffield) was incorrect. I ended up waving at the ambulance as it went past trying to attract the drivers attention. The ambulance crew weren't local which didn't help matters. I've just checked on Google maps and Multimap / Live and they both show it incorrectly as well. There's obviously no hope...

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  2. Elsie

    If you think you need Sat Nav ...

    .... then you really are too stupid to drive and should have your license revoked.

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  3. Olivier
    Pirate

    Garbage in garbage out....It's the map, stupid !

    @Elsie, you obviously think the road starts at your door and finishes at the supermarket. Some people have broader horizons.

    Satnav or no satnav, if the map you are using is wrong, then you are not going to find the place you are trying to reach. According to their own figures, the ambulances were mostly getting lost for reasons other than satnavs. An outdated A2Z is going to get you lost all the same. Just that it takes more of your attention off the road.

    I am a regular user of satnav (very basic model) and it's a great security add-on, such an improvement from the times of having to stop to read a map, or worse trying to read it whilst driving. Sometimes the route is not the best, but the destination has always been correct.

    Anyway, emergency services should maybe think of not relying on run of the mill town maps used by the general public. Several brands allow errors to be corrected by users feedback.

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  4. M7S
    Flame

    @Elsie

    OK, I can in theory be sent anywhere within East Anglia or Greater London over the course of a long shift to cover units that have been comitted with complicated casualties, and that's not counting the possibility of mutual aid to other services. I agree on carrying some map-books as a backup in case the unit fails or there is a problem, however some rural maps make finding a house by name down a small road very difficult and local knowledge can, hopefully obviously, only go so far. On a long run, would you rather I declined on the basis that its not in my backyard? (Caution: Darwin award may be pending)

    Your comment seems a bit like saying one shouldn't rely on a fire alarm to tell you to get out of a building, but wait until you see the smoke or flames. The man is just saying that you shouldn't rely on IT totally. Lets face it, most readers of this site should know that for whatever reason, IT systems can have problems, and thats the same message the Director is passing to his crews.

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