By Bethan Jones, 24 July 2008 16:20
NEWS
Sat-navs not only drive motorists to distraction, they've also been driving silicon.com readers to rage following a recent story concerning the devices.
According to a survey, the in-car gadgets are more trouble than they're worth, causing drivers to be late, take the wrong direction and - more worryingly - infringe the Highway Code.
Instances of drivers being 'forced' to make an illegal turn or hesitate at junctions were highlighted in the study carried out by Direct Line insurers. This prompted many silicon.com readers to argue that regardless of whether a sat-nav device tells you to make a turn, it doesn't actually force you to.
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Simon from Cumbria said: "It's not the sat-nav 'making' the drivers do any of this, it's the drivers doing it to themselves because they are clueless."
In the survey 10 per cent of drivers said their sat-nav had caused them to make a dangerous, late or illegal turn and reader Richard Davies from North Yorkshire said: "I have never heard anything like it in my life...these same 10 per cent would probably jump off a bridge if you told them to!"
An anonymous reader from Hampshire said: "People have to blame something else for their problems," and added that "most sat-nav devices have a start up message indicating the Highway Code rules over a sat-nav instruction".
The survey also suggested that sat-navs cause drivers to lose concentration on the road. However, many readers argued a map is much more of a distraction. Rory Choudhuri asked: "Would those drivers hesitating on a busy road, making a late turn, etc, have been any more or less distracted if they'd had an old-fashioned road atlas open on their knees, or across the steering wheel?"
"Using a sat-nav beats the hell out of mucking around with maps and diagrams," said an anonymous poster from Yorkshire, "how many respondents were asked the same questions in relation to maps?"
However, Lionel A Smith from Fareham added some food for thought by sticking up for those who prefer the more traditional method of map reading: "Practice map reading on a regular basis and plan routes before jumping behind the wheel, then you would proceed much more expeditiously and more safely. If you get lost pull up somewhere safe, consult your map and then proceedÂ…"
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Mikal Dunne
A couple of years a go my inlaws bought a satnav. So they decided to use it to visit us instead of navigating in their normal way. The result was they ended up in Brighton rather than the South Downs village they were supposed to be travelling to. Once they arrived they spoke of what ahd happened and I asked why they let themselves be directed into Brighton and their response was the navigation system bound to be better than their memory of past journeys.
People trust this technology too much. They stop thinking. Common sense goes out the window.
I'm not surprised there are problems developing. How many times do people hear the excuse at call centres "there's a problem with the computer" when the reality is the problem with the information inputted to the computer by human hand.
The over relinace on all things information technology is becoming more of a curse than a benefit. People are not tihnking for themselves in the way they would have 5 or 6 years ago.
2. Michael Peters
I have been using Sat Navs for years. In my case they make me drive more safetly. I can concentrate on the road conditions more rather than looking for a specifc address/road name. I actually get to meetings on time because I don't get lost. However I am not stupid enough to turn the wrong way up one way streets or turn into junctions that don't exist. I know if the navigator does make a mistake then I can ignore it and it will always recalculate a route. One of the areas where these systems do fail is when they are used in large vehicles. We have had a number examples in devon where lorries have got stuck in narrow lanes because their drivers have blindly followed them past signs which say things like Light Vehicles Only.
3. Dave Hall
Travelling to a job in Somerset, a member of my team called me to say that his Sat Nav had failed.
"Where are you?" I enquired, "I don't know" he answered.
This just about sums it up, as people can no longer read maps or have any geograhical awareness.
4. Marc Wilson
Something I've never seen mentioned in any of the media's gosh-wow stories about SatNav disassters- I'll wager that none of the people involved are IT people, or if they are they are in sales or management.
5. Dave Rees
People drive cars, not Sat-Navs. Sat-Navs are tools, if you don't know how to use a tool, or can't use it safely, don't use it at all.
6. Guy Reynolds
Our local council is complaining because people are not using the local bypass, and as a result we now are being subjected to all manner of traffic management systems to make the non-bypass route as awkward as possible.
In my view the problem is nothing to do with the non-bypass route being easy to use, it is simply that people's sat navs do not know about the bypass, mine certainly doesn't, and they are following the instructions they are being given by that rather than reading the road signs.