How To Get Lost With Sat Nav.

Monday, 5. October 2009

Big brother strikes again at a cost to the environment! No I’m not talking about the absolutely enthralling popular TV programme that keeps us on the edge of our seats for several weeks each year. I’m actually talking about Satellite Navigation systems. No doubt bored with watching people sleep in the hope that they may get up to some, under the covers, hanky panky the lads and lassies down at Continental Tyres decided to carry out a much more interesting survey into the reliance we now have on satellite navigation and show that by using the systems that we are now getting more frequently lost causing us to drive thousands of miles in the wrong direction. Bad news for the environment. The survey found that at-work drivers travelled an average of 42 miles in the wrong direction when lost, despite using satellite navigation systems, compared to an average of 23 miles for all other road users. They also take twice as long to decide to do a U turn, 16 minutes for the business driver compared to 8 minutes for other motorists. I guess this has nothing to do with the fact that business users are more likely to be dozing off whilst cruising the M1 and think ‘oh bugger just missed the tunoff for Milton Keynes’ and then have to travel to Sheffield before remembering that it was Milton Keynes he needed to get to? Rather than other drivers who miss the turnoff to Tesco and have to drive 100 yards to the next turnoff then left again to get back on course? Of course not, this is a meaningful survey carried out on 4,000 motorists, which included 200 fleet drivers. It also revealed that 6 in 10 fleet drivers, who rely on sat nav, have managed to get lost at least once whilst 63% said they followed the directions given without question. Ah, so when you see a van driver chatting away in his cab, he may not be having an argument with his boss on his hands free mobile phone, he may be one of the questioning 37% of fleet drivers who, after being told by his sat nav to take the next turning on the left, respond with ‘Excuse me Mr Sat Nav, are you sure? I feel certain that it would be quicker if we took the next turning on the right!’ Who said that Big Brother isn’t interesting? By Graham Hill