Dangerous TomTom Flaw
I love my TomTom. It’s one of the greatest pieces of driving technology, since the wheel was invented. But for all it’s brilliance, however, it does have an annoying and potentially dangerous flaw.
Let me explain.
Built into every new TomTom, is a database of speed cameras. The device helpfully alerts you, whenever you’re approaching one, with an appropriately loud “BONNGG” sound, and an icon on the screen, showing the correct current speed.
Why is this dangerous?
In an ideal world, we would all be aware of the current speed limit at any given time and we’d never make a mistake. In the old days, police were able to use common sense and a bit of discretion when it came to exercising the law. An otherwise sensible driver who happened to get caught doing 60mph in a 50mph zone (for example) could be pulled over and given a warning, rather than the 3 points on his license, and instant fine that is issued automatically by today’s modern speed cameras.
I think speed cameras make people nervous. I’ll admit it, there are times I’ve joined a new road, unaware of the speed limit, and end up braking at the last minute, slowing down to 30mph through a camera, on a 50mph road, just because I don’t want to be caught doing the wrong speed.
This is where TomTom comes in. It gives you plenty of warning, not only of the speed camera, but of the speed you are supposed to be doing. Granted, it’s not always 100% accurate (it rarely seems to know about temporary speed cameras, for example), but I can’t imagine anyone making the argument that it’s dangerous to be reminded to check your speed.
However, the icon containing the speed limit FLASHES on and off for a number of seconds before finally displaying statically just before you drive through the camera. There’s a 50/50 chance of you looking down at the display while the icon is in the off state. What I’ve found myself doing, is glancing to and from the road a number of times, until I happen to see it in the on state.
When you consider the number of people who slow down for speed cameras, this brief period of time spent not observing the road, could very well be the cause of a number of accidents.
Unlike all the other arguments about how mobile phones, alcohol or tiredness can cause accidents, this particularly issue could be so easily remedied with a simple software update.