By grdem 7 November, 2011
Hello, just throwing this out here if anyone knows the answer:
I’m on ACT L’s at the moment and about to take the driving test in a few months. The problem is that my automatic car’s speedometer is busted and too expensive to replace – have to get the part from overseas. The car used to belong to my partner, and he taught me to judge the speed by using the tachometer and listening to the engine.
I’d rather not hire/borrow an unfamiliar car for the driving test, so my question is: can I take the driving test in my car, if I install one of those little GPS units that show the speed as well? Or in fact, can I take the driving test with my smartphone mounted on the dashboard with a speedometer app?
Thanks in advance if anyone can help with this!
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You have a few months to go until your driving test:
Option 1: Get the car fixed.
Option 2: Borrow someone else’s and use the time you have to become familiar with it.
Option 3: Deal with it.
no sorry… Legally you need a speedometer in the car for it to be considered roadworthy and the GPS system does not replace one.
I guess it depends if the examiner decides that your car is roadworthy or not, but he’s not going to be able to ascertain that until you actually start moving…
If you’d wanted to take advantage of the situation, your best bet would have be to start the test, and quickly say..” Hey, my speedo has just broken. ” Give the examiner some time to digest this and then offer to complete the test with your phone as a speedo.
I’d rather try that then give someone the option of cancelling a test because you’ve admitted that your car isn’t fully functional.
Thanks for your suggestions everyone. We’d originally intended to hire/borrow a car for the driving test anyway as we’d meant to sell this car months ago (but that got delayed). I’m just really comfortable with this car and would like to use it if possible (it’s an old but zippy little sports hatchback that drives really well).
Regardless of accuracy, the GPS is not going to give you instantaneous speed.
Just use it, if you can judge your speed without it, just “neglect” to inform the instructor that it doesn’t work, maybe he’ll be impressed with your… speed judging skills.
You “CANT”…Be Serious
Think about it. What if it’s cloudy?
nice_enough said :
Driving an unroadworthy car is an instant fail – you won’t even get out of the carpark.
If at the time of going for your provisional license, you can’t adapt to driving a different car and are therefore worried you’ll fail the test in a borrowed/hired car (especially an automatic), then you are not ready to hold a license. Simple as that.
arb said :
This thought also crossed my mind.
Does not having a speedo make the car unroadworthy? It’s not like you absolutely need one in order to be able to operate the car safely?
Solidarity said :
If you consider that driving within the speed limit is an aspect of operating the car safely, then yes, it does.
Solidarity said :
I’ve never yet found someone who can accurately estimate their speed under 40kph, which is the speed of some roadworks. Thus, not being able to tell your speed in a 10kph shared zone makes most people unsafe.
Realistically, it’s common sense, which isn’t common because people feel the need to question it.
Cars have to meet certain guidelines to be allowed onto public roads. A speedometer is one of them.
People are just hopeless at figuring what speed they’re driving at with any level of accuracy unless they have one.
Solidarity said :
This has to be a gee-up.
Why does it “have to be a gee up?”
If there is other traffic around, follow it.
If not, use discretion to dictate what speed is safe.
It’s not hard.
Solidarity said :
In Victoria it certainly does (page9), for cars manufactured after 1988 at least:
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/E5F44416-57E4-4164-98F5-69E3E8E1C5E3/0/VSI26.pdf
I would assume the ACT has similar regulations? Hard to tell though, as I can find nothing about roadworthy regulations on the roads ACT website… :/
I have a guitar tuning app on my iPhone and it’s hopeless. I’m assuming the speedo one will be hopeless too.
MonarchRepublic said :
Yep
1.43 Speedometers
(1) A motor vehicle (other than a trailer) built after June 1974 that can be driven faster than 50km/h on a level road must be fitted with a
speedometer.
(2) The speedometer must—
(a) indicate the speed at which the vehicle is being driven in
kilometres per hour; and
(b) indicate, when the vehicle is travelling faster than 40km/h, a speed that is not over 10% less than the actual speed; and
(c) be readily visible to the driver.
http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/sl/2000-12/current/pdf/2000-12.pdf
A broken speedo is no worse than having bald tyres, broken wipers or no lights. The car still drives okay so why is it a roadworthy issue?
Hi all, I have a quick question about taking my P plate test, it is somewhat related to the original poster’s request.
My car has no brakes and I don’t want to replace them because brakes are expensive. My partner gave me a boat anchor and has shown me how to correctly deploy it out the passenger side window when I am approaching a corner in order to slow the car down enough to take the corner.
My question is, when I am having my final test, is the instructor required to sit in the passenger seat? I am concerned that having someone sitting in the passenger seat may obstruct my access to the boat anchor and compromise the safe operation of my vehicle.
Is it possible to ask the instructor to sit in the back seat for the duration of the test?
Thanks everyone!
Keijidosha said :
Bald tyres are fine if the road’s dry, and if there’s no water falling from the sky you won’t need wipers either.
Keijidosha said :
I think a better comparison would be “having a broken speedo is like having a broken radio, broken air conditioning or broken cruise control”, as it doesn’t impede the actual functionality (in all conditions) of the car itself.
Solidarity said :
Nor do the items in my example, under the right conditions.
Classified said :
Note the words in brackets.
Lazy I said :
Brilliant!
Original poster here…
“If at the time of going for your provisional license, you can’t adapt to driving a different car and are therefore worried you’ll fail the test in a borrowed/hired car (especially an automatic), then you are not ready to hold a license. Simple as that.”
I’m as likely to pass the test in any other car as in my little auto – but if it was possible to use a GPS speedometer, then why pay to hire a different car?
Also, if you know which gear the car is in and can read the revs on the tachometer, you can get a pretty good gauge of speed. That and using common sense and not going faster than other cars on the road makes me certain I’m not speeding. Most of the time I’m pretty much the only one on Canberra roads who isn’t speeding.
Solidarity said :
I’ll concede that sensible, skilled drivers could probably drive around with no speedo and never have an issue. The problem is that a lot of drivers are neither sensible nor skilled.
Dear everyone on RiotAct,
Please do not feed the trolls.
Regards,
luther_bendross
Jesus, i can’t believe it. Yes its an instant fail. The car must be roadworthy. You won’t even leave the carpark if they catch it. GPS’ are not accurate, if you go through a tunnel, the signal is blocked, you go on curvy roads etc etc you will not get an accurate indication of speed. Oh and its not instantaneous either.
arb said :
I completely agree.
grdem said :
Revvs isn’t displayed in km/hr, and it isn’t “accurate”
grdem said :
That isn’t an accurate indication of speed either. There’s a slim chance you’ll get away with it, and if you’re caught, you’ll lose your money, plus they won’t be able to take the test for a while. Find a friend, borrow a car, hire a car (instructors do this for learners). The whole thing seems silly, next time you get the car checked, the mechanic will fail it anyway.