A new survey by Manheim Auctions shows that only one out of every eight Britons trust their GPS navigation systems.
The survey found that more than 50% of British drivers own a GPS (or sat-nav in England). So why do so many people own something they don’t trust? According to the survey, 15% reported missing an important event, such as a job interview, because of the system. And 30% said they have had arguments with someone else in the vehicle because of the device.
And most interesting, more than one-third of Britons reported getting lost while using the GPS. I wonder how many of those instances were driver error – such as inputting the wrong address or missing a voice command.
“The sat-nav has revolutionized the way we navigate from A to B and has quickly become the car navigation gadget of choice,” said Craig Mailey, client services & marketing director, Manheim Auctions. “However, it’s always wise to exercise a degree of caution when using one and not follow it blindly. Some destinations cannot be pinpointed exactly and we’ve all heard horror stories of people stuck in dangerous places because they’ve only paid attention to the voice and not the road around them.”
I’d like to think if my GPS told me to turn left and there was a lake there, I’d be smart enough not to turn.
I used to hear people complain all the time about their GPS units, but not so much of late. My brother and sister once ran a “test” of their GPS units. Both set their GPS for the same destination using the shortest route criteria. Both were in the same vehicle. And yet each unit had them following a different route. Why? Isn’t there only one shortest route?
Whatever the problem is across the pond, the best advice I can give Britons would be to buy a map.