From: John Tserkezis 
Reply-To: Fidonet AVtech Echo 

Brenton wrote:
>>..[].. can get out of it if you're happy to go to court with a statement
>>from the car manufacturer that  their speedos have a stated accuracy
>>of +/- 10% (of which they're happy to give you).

> No they won't John.  If they did, their cars would not comply with ADR's, which
> actually state that the speed indicator is allowed to display a speed 10% higher
> than you are actually travelling, but it does not make any reference to showing
> any speed higher than you are actually travelling.
             ^^^^^^
  You mean lower?  I've seen this to be the case, but I think it was only on 
modified vehicles (either wheels, diff ratios or both).

> For this reason, most if not
> all speedos will show a speed slightly higher than you are actually travelling.
> I don't know where this +/- 10% came from, but it is an urban legend, and not
> fact.

  Interesting, I've read a few cases where this has been done, but of course 
the "I've seen it on the internet so it must be true" case could
apply here.

  Over the weekend while driving to and from the snow, (three cars) we were 
using UHF cb's to communicate with each other.  Comes in really useful when 
trying to overtake, the car in front gives updates on oncoming traffic.  Also 
notes on any oncoming cops (no overtaking with cops around!).

  My GPS navigation system really came in useful, I could keep an eye on speed, 
and only do 8K over the limit.  I routinely do 9 over, but better to leave a K 
or so headroom just in case the cruise control chucks a spaz.
  One thing I did learn is that you cannot trust a car's speedo.  Not only are 
they off, the error is not linear, neither a factor error, it's all over the 
place.  The car I was in was an SS V8 commodore ute, I was actually suprised 
that its speedo was pretty close to the mark.
  The other cars were a little off at 110-120Km/h, but far off at 80Km/h, my 
motorcycle is so out of whack, that it's completely useless.  Other cars I've 
been in vary in error.  Most, I have to say are so bad, I wonder why they 
bother with a speedo in the first place.  I haven't had the opportunity to test 
a digital readout speedo yet.

  Unrelated, (but I thought I should mention it because everyone makes fun of 
me when I bring my nav system with me on trips), is that we think there was a 
pileup or something just before canberra.  Stuck in traffic standing still for 
ages.  Someone else happened to be on the same channel as us, said he was about 
3Km ahead of us, and there was a parking lot as far as he could see.

  That's all I needed.  I wasn't going to stand still- even as a passanger, it 
gets too boring for me.
  We took a turnoff that looked like a back street- (doesn't anyone take maps 
with them on trips?) but actually bypasses canberra and goes straight to 
queanbeyan. (where you can join the freeway again a little north from there). 
We could only guess as to how long the bankup was, but we figured it would have 
saved us at least three hours.
  A few cars tried to follow us, but we lost them a little farther up.  The 
road turned to gravel driveway right after the turnoff for about 4-5 Km, we 
don't know if they just pulled back or gave up and turned around.
  You can't get lost with GPS.  I used to say you *could* get lost if you tried 
really really hard, but in the few years that I've had it, we've tried- hard.

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