Skip to main content

Satellite navigation 'has made drivers lazy'

A majority of UK drivers have no idea of how to read a map and are likely to find themselves hopelessly lost without their satellite navigation (satnav) system. That's the shocking finding of a UK vehicle leasing company which has found that people rely on their electronic devices so heavily that they often have no idea of the route they've taken to reach their destination. In addition, Flexed.co.uk has found that virtually everybody who has used a satellite navigation device has found themselves lost
October 30, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
A majority of UK drivers have no idea of how to read a map and are likely to find themselves hopelessly lost without their satellite navigation (satnav) system.

That's the shocking finding of a UK vehicle leasing company which has found that people rely on their electronic devices so heavily that they often have no idea of the route they've taken to reach their destination.

In addition, %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Flexed.co.uk Visit flexed website false http://flexed.co.uk/ false false%> has found that virtually everybody who has used a satellite navigation device has found themselves lost in the last mile of a journey at some time or other because it is unable to take them to the exact spot to which they're driving.

Flexed spoke to 1,150 private and commercial drivers about their satellite navigation use, and found: seven per cent of people who use a satnav rely on it totally on a journey; 63 per cent of drivers don't bother with road signs when they're using a satnav device; 60 per cent say they can't read a paper map; 81 per cent say they probably wouldn't find an unfamiliar place again if they had used satnav to get there in the first place; 91 per cent say they've got lost in the last mile of a journey because the device has announced they've arrived ‘too early; only nine per cent said they research the route before taking an unfamiliar journey.

"It's becoming very clear that satellite navigation is making drivers lazy," says Flexed.co.uk spokesman Johnny Ratcliffe, "And it's got to the point where people arrive at their destination with no clear idea how they got there.

“In the old days it would have been a map, forward planning and using the eyes in my head.”

Flexed.co.uk urges drivers to do the same and says that people should become more familiar with the forgotten skills of map-reading.

Related Content

  • As east coast battles blizzard, IBTTA praises toll authorities
    January 25, 2016
    In advance of what turned out to be blizzard conditions along the US East Coast over the weekend, tolling authorities throughout the region shifted into high gear to prepare for the extreme, winter weather developments. “Toll facility operations sweat the details, plan well ahead, have the necessary tools and equipment needed for severe weather events and know how to use them,” said Patrick D. Jones, executive director and CEO of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA). “Our t
  • i-Game cooperative automation webinar
    March 23, 2015
    A webinar, "Cooperative Automation: Activities in the European Project i-Game”, to present a brief overview of the on-going and planned activities in V2X communications under the European project i-Game will take place on 26 March at 1600 CET. The main aim of this section of i-GAME is to develop interaction protocols and message sets in the context of cooperative automation. Next to the development activities in i-GAME, an international Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge (GCDC) will be organised in 2016. T
  • Quercus debuts crosswalk protection feature at World Congress
    October 24, 2012
    Quercus is exhibiting for the first time at this show a new crosswalk protection feature which it has added to its Birdwatch Red Light enforcement camera system. The product will actually hit the market in November. The addition addresses a particular problem in countries such as Brazil, says the company’s Silvia Vilanova: “There, the authorities face a particular problem with drivers who attempt to beat red lights, fail and then block crosswalks. Our technology allows generation of citations for both the r
  • Flir expands AID portfolio with TrafiBot HD
    March 24, 2014
    In the camera world, HD imaging is increasingly becoming an established technology and this trend is now also continued in traffic monitoring and detection, as more and more traffic agencies are choosing HD cameras to control and secure their urban and highway traffic. In answer to this trend, Flir Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is unveiling here at Intertraffic an extension to its portfolio with a HD version of its Automatic Incident Detection (AID) cameras.