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

  • Compass4D workshop
    February 28, 2014
    The next Compass4D combined workshop and showcase event on the real deployment of ITS takes place at the Automotive Campus in Helmond in the Netherlands on 4 April. The workshop will discuss the actions needed to deploy ITS: What cities should do and what they expect from the industry; The role of European, national and local authorities; and the appropriate business models to guarantee a successful C-ITS deployment. The workshop will also show some of the ITS services for safer and cleaner transport in
  • Lyft Green Mode option allows riders to request electric and hybrid vehicles
    February 14, 2019
    Lyft is launching a Green Mode feature within its app to provide riders in Seattle with the option to travel in an electric or hybrid vehicle. The move follows the company’s planned introduction of thousands of electric vehicles (EVs) onto its platform this year. Lyft says the deployment will allow its drivers to increase net earnings as it says the cost of travelling in an EV is half that of a petrol-powered car, therefore saving hundreds of dollars per month on fuel costs. Drivers can switch
  • DGT installs 16 dynamic cyclist signalling equipment, Spain
    October 20, 2017
    To combat the 7,673 accidents that involved cyclists last year, in which 67 died and 736 were injured, the Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has installed 16 dynamic cyclist signalling equipment at four conventional roads in La Rioja, northern Spain, where the visibility is reduced. The project is valued €55, 000 (£49,000). The system can detect an isolated cyclist or group of cyclists on the roads and activate a luminous circumstantial signal which alerts drivers and blinks for a determined and configurable
  • CITC - EuraRFID brings together contactless technology platforms
    November 19, 2013
    A fingerprint-activated biometric payment system, a holographic display case and an interactive, gesture-controlled changing room mirror activated by RFID clothing tags were three of the latest innovations on show at the Innovation Centre of Contactless Technologies (CITC EuraRFID) stand in the Smart Shopping Zone at CARTES 2013.