WHY all this complexity?

[txdon]

I can speak on the importance of GPS. I would rather people listen to a gps than have them searching for street signs not paying attention to the road ahead. How many of us have slammed on the brakes when the desired intersection caught us by surprise? GPS has probably saved some lives by alerting us which lanes we should be in and a good heads up of upcoming turns. Please don't be reading a map and drive.

3-16-2015
But a GPS also has a screen and can be just as distracting as a map.
Here a GPS cost a life:

"15-year-old Delia Ramirez was killed when the car she was a passenger in and a tractor-trailer collided at the intersection of Highway 130 and Parmer Lane. Police said that the vehicles collided when the tractor-trailer ran the red light at the intersection while the driver was looking down at his GPS."

Delia Ramirez Killed in Austin, TX Tractor-Trailer Accident | Wrongful Death News and Opinions

 

[Diamondpilot]

3-16-2015 But a GPS also has a screen and can be just as distracting as a map. Here a GPS cost a life: "15-year-old Delia Ramirez was killed when the car she was a passenger in and a tractor-trailer collided at the intersection of Highway 130 and Parmer Lane. Police said that the vehicles collided when the tractor-trailer ran the red light at the intersection while the driver was looking down at his GPS." Delia Ramirez Killed in Austin, TX Tractor-Trailer Accident | Wrongful Death News and Opinions

I guarantee you there were just as many deaths or more contributed to people looking down at a MAP.

Chris

 

[txdon]

I guarantee you there were just as many deaths or more contributed to people looking down at a MAP.

Chris

There are innumerable ways in which a driver can be inattentive.

looking at something or someone by the side of the road
looking at a map or a piece of paper
reading the newspaper or a book
changing the station on the radio
looking at a cell phone
texting
getting something out of the glove compartment
adjusting your seat
getting something out of your pocket
looking into the back seat or getting something out of the back seat
looking at your children to talk to them or reprimand them
eating or drinking while driving
putting on makeup, and
shaving

GPSs just adds to the list of distractions.

I can't find a specific case of a map causing an accident - they probably would not admit it anyway. I brought up the GPS because I just saw the fatality linked to the GPS on the news last week. I think they cause more accidents than maps now days because they sometimes confuse the driver. What the GPS says and what is visible does not alway match.
I gave easy directions to a twenty year old however he insisted on using his GPS. He put the correct address in his GPS and the GPS took him 50 miles out of his way and an hour late but he could not stop following the GPS even when I told him to turn it off and follow my directions.

 

[jejeosborne]

There are innumerable ways in which a driver can be inattentive.

looking at something or someone by the side of the road
looking at a map or a piece of paper
reading the newspaper or a book
changing the station on the radio
looking at a cell phone
texting
getting something out of the glove compartment
adjusting your seat
getting something out of your pocket
looking into the back seat or getting something out of the back seat
looking at your children to talk to them or reprimand them
eating or drinking while driving
putting on makeup, and
shaving

GPSs just adds to the list of distractions.

I can't find a specific case of a map causing an accident - they probably would not admit it anyway. I brought up the GPS because I just saw the fatality linked to the GPS on the news last week. I think they cause more accidents than maps now days because they sometimes confuse the driver. What the GPS says and what is visible does not alway match.
I gave easy directions to a twenty year old however he insisted on using his GPS. He put the correct address in his GPS and the GPS took him 50 miles out of his way and an hour late but he could not stop following the GPS even when I told him to turn it off and follow my directions.

You are complaining about gps taking you out of the way but I often remember my parents getting lost trying to follow a map. Spent hours on vacation stopping and asking for directions from locals. Gps has saved loads of fuel and made travel much more efficient.

I will challenge you on a scaveng has er hunt any day of the week, you use a map, and I'll use a gps. 99 times out of 100 I'll smoke you to the destination. I don't consider listening to my gps a distraction. I don't have to look for street signs, well alerted of upcoming turns, tells me which lane I need to be in, reroutes me around traffic and accidents, etc. As said, trying to read a map opened across your lap while driving would be more dangerous.

 

[thirdroc17]

Most of that electronic crap is there because it's high profit for the corporate CEO, and the American consumer no longer thinks for themselves. The ads say they "need" this crap, so they think they "need" this crap. Thus, corporate gets rich and the consumer goes on being gloriously ignorant sheep.

Unfortunately, this is the trend. Don't learn how to actually drive or park your car, let some electronic wizardry do it for you.

If you haven't guess by now, I hate that crap too. We have two vehicles that sit for most of the winter. One is old, I have to do nothing with it. The other is not so old, after the electronic crap drained the battery, it froze and broke last year, so I bought and run a float charger on it all this past winter. The battery was still dead this spring, the electronic crap drain was more than the charger could overcome, but at least it didn't freeze. So the procedure next year will be, continue to do nothing special with the older vehicle, the newer one, remove the battery and run float charger all winter, in spring, reinstall battery, go through the 5 minute procedure of convincing the computer it's ok to start the engine again because the battery was removed. PITA!!!

New and improved my butt. New, more complicated, and doesn't work as well is more like it, but highly profitable for big auto.


As for GPS, where is your sense of adventure? I've found more new things but taking the road less traveled, than I've went directly to. Look outside of the box.

 

[3930dave]

Read the EULA that comes with a stand-alone GPS.

They basically tell you to always have hardcopy maps available as a backup. Not necessarily a big deal if you are driving, but can be a big deal if you are on a boat, for one.

For better or worse, many people now have a Pavlovian response to what a screen tells them to do.

Rgds, D.

 

[txdon]

You are complaining about gps taking you out of the way . . .

No I am not. They take others out of the way. Out here in rural Texas there are streets with the same name and same zip code/town. Unless you know which county the address is in you are out of luck. The GPS does not always give a choice. I agree with you that listening to a GPS is less distracting than viewing it and it makes travel more efficient - but - it is still a distraction. The Ramirez family will attest to that.

I have listed a specific GPS distracted driver that caused a fatality. Can you list a specific one from map reading?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Read the EULA that comes with a stand-alone GPS. They basically tell you to always have hardcopy maps available as a backup. Not necessarily a big deal if you are driving, but can be a big deal if you are on a boat, for one. For better or worse, many people now have a Pavlovian response to what a screen tells them to do. Rgds, D.

I have not carried a hard copy of a map in a airplane in almost 10 years. I took 108# of charts off when the IPad became legal to use for navigation by the FAA.


The situational awareness increased 10 fold in the cockpit with real time portion overlaying charts both in the air and on the ground.


As for driving with a GPS vs a Map. I am a back roads guy. I programmed my GPS to take me the shortest distance, not shortest time. I found more neat new things this way. Last summer I drove from Cleveland to Indianapolis and was only on a main road or county highway for maybe 20 miles. The rest was all back roads, farm roads, ect.


Chris

 

[JDgreen227]

Read the EULA that comes with a stand-alone GPS.

They basically tell you to always have hardcopy maps available as a backup. Not necessarily a big deal if you are driving, but can be a big deal if you are on a boat, for one.

For better or worse, many people now have a Pavlovian response to what a screen tells them to do.

Rgds, D.

You must have something right there, my screen is telling me to respond to your post.....:laughing:

 

[Copperhead]

I drive commercially and go into many areas that I am not familiar with. I use a dash installed GPS, Google maps on my iPhone and laptop, and a Rand McNally commercial laminated atlas. I rarely have any issue going to any location I need to. The dash installed unit accounts for my vehicle size and regulatory restrictions, the iPhone keeps me up on traffic along the route, highway conditions, construction areas, detours, etc, and I compare any routes with what the atlas shows. I love all this technology. I just know its limitations and account for that. But, i probably will never use the navigation stuff included in the dash on my new 2015 2500HD. Most likely will just use the iPhone and atlas for any routes with the pickup.