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300,000 drivers unaware that sat-nav doesn't drive for them


  3. purplefox
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A survey has found that sat-nav systems have caused up to 300,000 accidents on Britain's roads. More than 1.5 million people also claimed that they have performed sudden manoeuvres, changes in direction and blithely driven the wrong way down a one-way street at the bequest of their dashboard menace.

Time to get out the good old A-Z?
purplefox

7 responses // 300,000 drivers unaware that sat-nav doesn't drive for them

  • Sat Navs are overrated, they never seem to show accurately where I am, especially at motorway junctions when the road splits. That last minute 'is it left or is it right??' could so easily be avoided by a simple bit of preliminary route-planning or just slowing down a bit I guess...
    mattbrawn
  • im sure there was a time we shot people this stupid in Britain, how else could we survive those world wars ? sat-nav gives you the direction and a rough map, not auto-pilot.
    Kabimbi
  • Wow. People are even more stupid than we might appear at first glance!

    Sat Navs spoil all the fun anyway - I like a good old fashioned map and an adventure with a felt-tip pen, some squinting and the vaguest hint of car sickness.

    Still, when you're a relatively new driver the Sat Nav feeding you directions probably causes fewer accidents than your smug *I've-been-driving-since-I-was-born* partner sitting next to you, who likes to test you by pointing out the turning you should be taking only seconds before you speed straight past it... So perhaps Sat Navs have their uses :)
    LindseyIndigo
  • Technology is nice but sometimes there is no substitute for a map
    TexasPatriot67
  • I don't see how people can waste money on something in the first place before even knowing even the fundamentals of what it does. To be honest, it's a bit stupid.
    ChaosSeven
  • I have done driving jobs in the past and on many occasions needed to rely on them. In my experience Sat-nav's are a dual edged sword.They'll sometimes work without a problem and can save loads of hassle and arguing. Others times they can drive you insane as it asks you to drive through a 3 foot brick wall (with shrubbery I hasten to add) or driving across farmland and moors because there is a path there.
    Then another case in point is how to keep them updated (a similar problem maps enjoy), with new estates and housing complexes being built so quickly they're useless.
    Then there is the question as to in the study did they include as to whether more accidents were attributed to in-built systems or the external plug-in models.
    And finally, (sorry this is long but I'm in a slight evangelical tilt tonight) if people do think these things can drive for them the manufacturers are going to have to include it in their manuals, like a Snickers might contain nuts.
    ghost2047
  • These devices are as dangerous a distraction as cell phones and are useless in open countryside (just try entering an ordnance grid reference into one).

    Drivers should remain in control and not directed by the power of suggestion.
    EclecticBadger

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