Will Vodafone Compass be effectively pointless after Nov 1?

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RedJungle

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#258960 28-Sep-2009 12:35

It looks odd to me too. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt at the moment and assume there's been a miscommunication / misunderstanding somewhere and I expect common sense with prevail.

Otherwise it's quite a bizarre stipulation to be adding on. I.e. At what point does having GPS navigation on your phone become more dangerous than having a satnav with handsfree for your mobile? (assuming both a cradled of course).

old3eyes

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#258964 28-Sep-2009 12:41

I heard last week that the tax collectors in Vic , Ozz are issuing tickets for people using GPS fones in cars. I guess the likes of Navmans etc will be the next target in the ever increasing rush to gather revenue..

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#259001 28-Sep-2009 14:18

does "driving"refer to the car both been stopped (i.e at the lights) as well as the vehicle moving? i often check my mail / weather while at the lights

also so simply changing to the next track on my iphone while its playing music through the car system will now be illegal accoridng to the wording above.

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#259032 28-Sep-2009 16:14

This policy of banning mobile sat navs is silly, they can't class it as a distraction as all motorists need to glance away from the road to look at their dash board (speedo, fuel guage, etc), also some ppl might use the ciggi lighter?
I don't see the difference between a mobile sat nav and a proper sat nav (tom tom, navman, etc) as both can offer audio prompts so you don't actually have to look at the screen
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#259037 28-Sep-2009 16:24

forgive me if i'm wrong... but arent typical satnav unit screens a bit bigger than your average mobile phone screens? pehaps they decided that the screens on phones are too small to be used safely for that purpose? (i reckon ppl are always going to look at the screen, regardless of whether audio prompts exist)

i guess the other argument is that if you're doing "something" on your phone, you would always say "i was interacting with my gps officer, not texting/emailing" to get out of a ticket....

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#259045 28-Sep-2009 16:45

Driving while distracted is a mean law i've come to feel:
you're driving illegally if you (are):
chewing gum
thinking about food, other gender ...
in fact if you have a thought about reaching for the left/right signal lamp you could be distracted
eating
looking at the speedometer
carrying passengers
looking for a park
... ... ... and GPS? don't even think about it - it's so evil that you should just look at the MAP ... but wait a sec - that's illegal too ...

cokemaster

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#259058 28-Sep-2009 17:42

RedJungle: It looks odd to me too. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt at the moment and assume there's been a miscommunication / misunderstanding somewhere and I expect common sense with prevail.

Otherwise it's quite a bizarre stipulation to be adding on. I.e. At what point does having GPS navigation on your phone become more dangerous than having a satnav with handsfree for your mobile? (assuming both a cradled of course).

Exactly.

I hope this is cleared up, otherwise this seems rather silly. Why ban nav apps such as Tomtom on the iphone, yet the physical thing which may have bluetooth is allowed?

Also - does turning on flight mode mean that the device is no longer a phone? Does it mean that its a PDA/navigation device?

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jerryvarghese

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#259084 28-Sep-2009 18:28

http://www.iphonewzealand.co.nz/2009/all/breaking-common-sense-prevails-law-is-to-be-amended/

thank goodness for the quick response and turn around from the ministers office.

maccrazy

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#259096 28-Sep-2009 19:01

Yes, good to see that they have reacted. I do think there should be a minimum screen size though, and you should only be able to use the GPS on your phone if the interface represents that of a dedicated unit and gives audio directions. ie. you shouldn't be able to use Google Maps, you should have to buy TomTom or something similar.

richms

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#259176 28-Sep-2009 22:52

The thing is they cant tell what you are using your phone for.

If it comes to it drop the phone on the floor of the car and push it under the seat.

Richard rich.ms

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