Part of being a good driver is being able to plan a journey, and navigate the route safely. The advent of SatNavs has made things much easier for drivers who find traditional map reading skills challenging, even if you do sometimes end up in the middle of a ford because the TomTom’s told you to turn left when you should have turned right.
But a recent survey carried out by GPS technology specialist Garmin found that 39% of people don’t know how to navigate using a traditional map. It discovered that these directionally-challenged respondents relied instead on guided directions from GPS systems to help them find their route and get them to their destination. One in 10 said that they are ‘heavily reliant’ on their onboard tech, even using it for journeys that they make on a regular basis.
Nearly half refuse to openly admit when they get lost because they are concerned at being embarrassed by their lack of knowledge, and almost a third will refuse to ask for directions, despite being totally lost. And don’t think that having the latest in-car tech is a big help either, because nearly half of those asked said that they never update their satnav software.
The more serious side of being lost
While some of these figures may paint a clichéd picture of a road full of lost and slightly bewildered drivers, there is a more serious side to this problem. Being lost increases the levels of stress when driving, and so a driver is therefore more likely to make mistakes, sudden and violent turns with little or no indication, or even run into another vehicle due to being distracted looking for street signs or a turning. This in turn can lead to some pretty serious road injury statistics – and all because a driver didn’t either plan their journey first, or were unable to interpret a map. And the more inexperienced the driver, the bigger the potential problem.
So should the onus be on driving instructors to give new drivers rudimentary map reading skills as part of their driver training? It could certainly reduce the potential for accidents, not just in the short term but over the lifespan of a motorist. But how would adding this skill set onto the current curriculum impact on teaching time, as well as other factors such as driving instructor insurance? Could an instructor be held culpable if they didn’t teach a learner to use a map correctly and that novice driver then went on to have an accident?
As technology has a bigger impact on our lives, it seems that we are losing some of our traditional skills, including map reading. Perhaps it’s time we disconnected the TomTom and dug out the A-Z road atlas again, and brushed up on those skills once more.