A survey of 2000 drivers by Privilege Insurance has found that 1 in 10 drivers have programmed their sat nav devices whilst driving. Is this "driving without due care and attention"? Well there's talk that you could get a £1000 if you take your eyes off the road - madness so you can't look at your stereo, your passengers, your heating etc?
But I suppose when you think that of those that used their units whilst driving, seventy-five per cent spent more than 10 seconds doing so which, at 60 mph, would equate to two lengths of a football pitch.
Ian Parker, Managing Director, of Privilege Insurance rightly recommended drivers to take a break every two hours which they could use to check their route. But he also stated: "Perhaps safest of all would be for drivers on an unknown route to take a passenger with them and allow them to navigate." What's the point of buying sat nav then? My view is that you only need to play with your sat nav when you get stuck in traffic and you want to find an alternative route. Then you can stop and do this.
The other finding, which I find is startling, is that maps are safer than satellite navigation. Com'on ... I've tried looking at the map whilst driving, if you're doing 70 down the motorway you would have to look at the map once to see where you are, then again to make sure you're right, then work out where on the map you want to go to, then confirm, then work out the route. This just won't happen with a sat nav. But if you look at their data, 20% using sat nav said they lost concentration, whilst 17% using maps did. With a sample of 2000 drivers, surely the 3% isn't statisticalyysignificantt".
From personal experience, sat nav is safer - especially when driving at night!
