In-Car Navigation Systems Too Distracting?

Lam1969 writes "A survey released by an insurance company shows that drivers with in-car navigation systems are more likely to lose concentration than drivers who unfold a map while driving. From the article: 'One in 10 motorists with navigation systems set off on their journeys without bothering to program their route, and more than half admitted that they then had to take their eyes off the road to input the details while driving. Nearly one in eight did not even bother to check out a route they were unfamiliar with and simply relied on the technology to get them to their destination.'"

Comments

dashboard diplays

[aliscool]

OK, completely different technology. Similar premise. On vacation with my parents last December... My dad has a new Prius hybrid. He was so worried about that magic display in the center of the dash that showed his real time gas milegae that he was a damn hazard on the road. I very smoothly asked if I could drive the mighty hybrid for a while, much to his chagrin I drove us home most of the way from the airport and completely blew off the gas mileage statistics.

Re:dashboard diplays

[xmundt]

Greetings and Salutations...
          While I certainly agree about the system status display of the Prius,
I would have to say that the negatives of the GPS system are FAR outweighed
by the positives. Having had the pleasure of using one for a while, I
find it painful NOT to have.
        Things that are good about the systems:
          1) the voice navigation prompts are very useful, and, while not absolutely precise, are close enough to make navigation much less painful.
          2) The ability to locate nearby points of interest and get immediate directions to it (restaurants, parts stores, etc).
          3) The increase in safety from not having to keep referring to a printed map or directions to find a new place.
          4) I, for one, find it stressful to be driving through twisty country roads that I have never been on, with no clear map in my head as to where I am at, and how far I am from turns, etc. The GPS navigation unit removes much of that stress.
          5) The ability to nearly instantly reroute to avoid obstructions, traffic jams, etc.
          6) (with SOME units) the ability to update internal maps with current information on road conditions, etc, so, routes can be planned to avoid obstructions.
          7) Frankly, it is just a REALLY cool gadget...and that is worth something.

          I would agree that, as with many new toys, it can be slightly distracting
at first, but, I found that it rapidly became a background tool for me, so
while I would glance at the screen for intersections, etc, I did not stare
at it for long periods of time. We are, after all, adults, and need to
act like adults...not like gawking children (shocking as that thought might
be). This also means that we need to use the GPS as an auxilary tool, and
not the sole control piloting the vehicle. It is a data tool that needs
to be used with common sense... It has, a few times, gotten confused about
what direction the one-way streets ran and such, but, I realized this, and
simply went a block or so down from it, and picked up the route again...easy
enough to deal with.
          Regards
          Dave Mundt

No they aren't

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact, I'm responding to this post on my in car computeY$#YKGRdsfgsm;sd;mgf.

Yet...

[MorderVonAllem]

...every single item mentioned in the article that applied to GPS Navigation systems could be applied to conventional maps, at least with a GPS Navigation system it could talk to you without you having to look at it (Tom Tom http://www.tomtom.com/ for instance). Then it would take your eyes away from it and on the road where it belongs.

However you do navigate, you must plan ahead.

-My $.02

Re:Yet...

[jo7hs2]

I think the real problem with the GPS systems is placement. We rented a car with GPS Nav recently, and it was infinately more dangerous for me to use while driving then either my handheld GPS, or a map which I could unfold on the steering wheel only to the part I need. To use the GPS as installed in most vehicles, you have to move away from the steering wheel with at least one hand, and as such I would compare it more to the dangers of using a radio then a map. As per the talking, I find the talking fairly distracting too, but in addition, the talking features as well as the bells and whistles and real time updates become a constant distraction, whereas a map is a one shot deal, and plus, the talking might lull you into thinking you could use it while driving, while many people (most of the time meyself included) will pull over to use a map.

A shift in driving

[Statecraftsman]

Since the customerwants to do other things while driving and the customer is always right, I don't see the distraction factor going down no matter what kind of enhancements are made to the nav system. What this really illustrates is that drivers are bored with driving.

We need a more active accident avoidance system and other systems to reduce the need for driver intervention. If the driver wants to be less involved in the act of driving, the vehicle will naturally need to take up the slack.

Re:A shift in driving

[DrEldarion]

I have a navigational system in my car that won't let you input most things while the car is in motion. It will allow some things, like "quick stop" which will route to nearby gas stations/restaurants/hospitals, but it'll only show a total of 5 - if you want to scroll to search further, you have to stop. You can also program in any of the previous 5 destinations. The processes are easy enough that it's not a distraction, although maybe I'm just better at multitasking than most people.

What irritates me, though, is if I have a passenger in the car, they can't do anything to the nav while I'm driving. If we suddenly realize we have the wrong address while we're on the freeway? Sorry, can't change it, even though the passenger could just as well do it. I wish they had some kind of weight sensor in the seat to allow that.

Re:A shift in driving

[chefmonkey]

If it's a Toyota nav system (and the five "quick stop" things sounds like it is) -- at least, from 2004 on -- your passenger can override the lock-out by doing the following:

- Go to the map menu screen
- Select "volume"
- Tap the upper-left corner then the lower-left corner; repeat three times.
- On the screen that pops up, press and hold "override" until it beeps
- Tap "back"

Now, until you turn the car off, your passenger should be able to use the nav system just fine. You will need to select "guide" after selecting your route, since it will no longer automatically start guiding you when the car starts rolling.

Puh-leeze...

[cookiej]

I'll bet if you looked closer, you'd see that the idiots who "lose concentration" don't really know how to use the system. The nice thing about a map is that everyone understands how to use it. It's still massively dangerous. If you know how to use your nav system, it's easier than a map. The article should read:

"Study Finds Stupid People More Likely to Kill Others When Driving"

And this gem:

Nearly one in eight did not even bother to check out a route they were unfamiliar with and simply relied on the technology to get them to their destination.

Heavens! Relying on Technology! Burn them at the stake!

Ye, Gods.

Re:Puh-leeze...

[R3d M3rcury]

"Nearly one in eight did not even bother to check out a route they were unfamiliar with and simply relied on the technology to get them to their destination.

Heavens! Relying on Technology! Burn them at the stake!"

Relying on technology without any clue will always cause problems. Remember that example years ago when they gave inaccurate calculators to a class of students who were taking a test and only one of them questioned the answers that were coming from his calculator?

My roomate used to drive 18 wheel trucks cross-country. On her first trip, she partnered with another new driver who used to work in the IT field. Needless to say, he loved his technology and ran out and got a GPS card and software for his laptop. He thought this was incredibly cool and paid very close attention to his GPS.

The first problem came when they were switching freeways. Even though he knew he should get over to the right hand side because he knew the exit was coming up, he wouldn't move over until the GPS software told him to. One time he almost missed an exit because the GPS software was a little late in telling him to move over (map inaccuracy, GPS inaccuracy, whatever). Let's just say he was lucky it was late and there was no cop around, because he'd have lost his license and/or caused an accident.

The next time, my roomate was sleeping when she was awakened by city traffic. His mapping software had told him the fastest route was on surface streets, so he obediently got off the freeway. The road narrowed from 8 lanes to four to two. When she looked out from behind the sleeping curtain, he was driving 30 miles per hour while staring at his laptop--not even looking at the road (and, remember, you don't necessarily stop so fast with a 30,000 pound trailer). She decided that if she wanted to live the night, she'd better get out there and get him out of the mess he'd gotten himself into.

Finally, he got completely confused when there was construction and suddenly the place his GPS told him to exit was closed. He had no idea what to do, so he just kept driving. When my roomate woke up a couple of hours later and asked him where they were, he had no clue and the GPS wasn't much help either. She took over the wheel, got off on the next exit, turned the truck back around, and followed the plain ol' paper map to get back to exit he was supposed to take (it was open on the eastbound leg)

When they finally got back, she decided to drive solo. He decided to become a Driver Manager...

Now, in the guy's defense, he'd obviously gotten hold of some crappy software which, at the very least, didn't account for the fact that the vehicle he was driving was not a passenger car. But he became so fixated on doing what the software told him that he didn't pay attention to what the road signs, his training, or just plain ol' common sense told him to do. He would just slavishly follow the computer's instructions.

I've seen MapQuest have the same effect, too. MapQuest seems to like to save you a couple tenths of a mile by making you "drive the hypotenuse." Turn left, turn right, turn left, turn right. If you just zoom the map out a little, you'll see you can just drive a quarter-mile, turn left, and drive another quarter-mile and be there.

well this is a problem but..

[bLindmOnkey]

i'd argue that cell phones are worse. In the past year I've had some close calls with other cars on many occasions. When I glance at the driver 9 out of 10 of them were people yapping away on their cell phones, usually forgetting to turn their heads left, right, and/or behind them. I find myself cursing at these people helplessly from inside my car. nevertheless, anything on the dash can be distracting, ESPECIALLY a brightlit 7 inch screen with moving things on it. I took a roadtrip with a buddy using my laptop for GPS (i was the trip's navigator). I told my friend(the driver) to keep his eyes on the road while I told him where to turn based on the GPS nav(in addition to the computer voice in case he missed it.) Yet, Every few minutes or so I'd catch him glancing down at the laptop screen on my lap instead of paying attention to the 18 wheeler in front of us. Luckily I caught him most of the time and nothing happened but it's reallly easy to see just how dangerous distractions can be on the road.

Re:And this is diffrent how?

[Aardpig]

How about the navigation software telling them to turn into a one-way street, driving the wrong way? I have an acquaintance who drives like this, blindly following the software without actually reading the road. It scares the hell out of me.

Darwinian dashboards

[jheath314]

Actually, the one that really gets my goat is TVs built right into the dashboard. With all the fuss people raised about cell-phones being distracting, I have no idea how auto manufacturers managed to slip this one under the radar. (In theory the TV is supposed to be off unless the vehicle is in park, but the safety switch is easy to disable and many ethically challenged auto shops will do it for you.) How any sane government could have let this pass regulations just blows my mind.

OTOH, maybe they did it on purpose. GM: Better Drivers through Darwinian Selection.

The GPS Lady

[$RANDOMLUSER]

I hate it when you ignore the "turn left at the next light" and then they just start bitchin' at you:

"I should have been bought by that other guy"
"You never listen to me"
"My mother told me not to let you buy me"

On and on and on. It's enough to make ya crazy.

Personal Experience

[AusIV]

I go to college in a town about 4 hours away from my home. The first few trips, while I was learning the route back and forth, I used mapquest directions. In order to see what came next, I would have to take my eyes off the road, search for my directions, then try to read my directions while I was driving. About 2 months after I left, my parents got me a Garmin StreetPilot i3 as a late highschool graduation present.

The street pilot uses a suction cup to stick to my windshield, and has a chord that plugs into my cigarette lighter. The controls are simple, just a wheel and two buttons. It has a map that shows where I am. When it's not navigating, it shows my speed and direction. When it is navigating, it shows my estimated arrival time, and the distance to my next turn. It also speaks outloud with instructions like "Go 103 miles, then turn left." And then when you get close to the next turn it will say "Go 500 feet and then turn left." It's quick to glance up and see how far I have until I need to be concerned about getting ready to turn/exit. If I forget to tell it where I'm going before I leave, it takes me about 10 seconds to reach up and pick a location from my favorites. I can't imagine typing in an address while driving, but picking a location from a list is much less distracting than trying to read directions on paper while driving.

After getting my GPS, I decided to take an unfamiliar route back to college. I was able to keep my eyes on the road the whole time and I didn't get the least bit lost. Now I take it anytime I go someplace new, and I feel very confident that I'm a safer driver with it than without it.

Where's the problem ?

[Space cowboy]

So, I've got a Garmin Streetpilot 2610. Last year I drove from Mountain View (where I live) to Las Vegas, without any maps, purely by putting (I think 3) waypoints - ("yes, I do want to go through Death Valley and Yosemite" etc.), a start and an end destination.

I've done the trip before, but I wouldn't say I was familiar with it, and I tried to see different things this time anyway - we went somewhat out of our way to Monument Valley on the way back, 'cos that's fairly spectacular ...

The thing performs perfectly - I use it a lot. The confidence it brings when you know it will work out the best route and take you that way is just great. No panic if (when) you miss a junction on a freeway because you were in the wrong lane. No problem if you miss a turn in a city you don't know. I can't praise the thing enough.

My parents came over to visit - never been to the US before. Because I had to work that week, they went on a trip down the coast, with the GPS guiding them all the way. 10 minutes instruction was all it took to get them started, and they were experts after a few days, putting their own waypoints in etc. You have to understand that my parents really *are* VCR-challenged...

I'd never try and put in directions when the car was moving though - just pull over, type the details, and drive on afterwards. News-flash: driving without looking at the road (no matter what gizmo is involved) is not a good idea...

Simon