September 2009

End of the road for maps?

Like it or loathe it, this is the age of the Sat Nav in modern motoring.

At least that’s true if you are of a certain age.

A new nationwide survey of Britain’s motorists reveals that the majority of young drivers - aged under 25 - are now relying entirely on Sat Nav to get them to journey’s end.

But the older you are the less likely you’ll want to depend on anything more than a simple printed road map.

The survey highlights the fact that a whole generation of young drivers are finding ordinary UK roadmaps of no use to them whatsoever... and much prefer to rely on their Sat Navs instead!

Car breakdown specialists Autonational Rescue commissioned the new survey around one key question: “When you set off on a long journey, for example from London to Leeds or Edinburgh to Cardiff, where do you get your directions?”

Thirty one per cent of all motorists said they would check a road map first to double check location and route (but only 10% of under 25s would do this) and more said they would take a map with them just in case.

Thirty four per cent of motorists said they would print a route finder from the Internet and take it with them.

Meanwhile, 34% of all motorists say they would depend entirely on Satellite Navigation to get them there and back again.

Said Autonational’s marketing manager Ronan Hart: “Strikingly, 59% of under 25s said they would rely entirely on Sat Nav and no other navigational aids. And this compares with just 17% of drivers aged over 65 who would do the same.

“It seems we have a generational Sat Nav age gap.”

Since they first started appearing in 2007, Sat Navs have changed the way people plan (or don’t actually plan) their journeys.

But we very often find to our cost - and to the cost of the environment - that they sometimes get things wrong and can add many miles to a driver’s journey.

Added Ronan: “A downside to Sat Navs is that they can make some drivers lazy.

“These days we simply put in the postcode of our destination, jump in the car and go - sometimes not really knowing precisely where we’re heading!

“And because of this remarkable technology, many drivers may be losing sight of what cities and towns are in the North, South, East or West of the UK.”

Sat Nav experience

Of the drivers who do rely on Sat Nav to get them to journey’s end, the vast majority - 80% - describe the experience as positive, saying it always gets them there quickly and reliably or say its step-by-step instructions are easy to follow.

But significant numbers are less enthusiastic about Sat Nav’s ‘delights’.

Eleven per cent of all motorists say Sat Nav often seems to take a long winded route, while four per cent believe it is often unreliable, making some journeys very difficult.

Some drivers go even further.

Four per cent believe it “often goes wrong” and turns some journeys into veritable disasters.

Internet help

Other motorists turn to the Internet for help in getting directions and print off one of the many online route finders to take with them.

Most motorists - 59% - agreed that Internet route finders are “very easy to follow” and provide step-by-step instructions

Six per cent thought that often those instructions seemed to take long-winded routes, while eight per cent of motorists thought that the instructions sometimes took them in completely the wrong direction, adding miles to their journey.

Five per cent felt that printed Internet instructions were often “unreliable”, making some journeys very difficult.

The independent survey was carried out across Great Britain by CAPI Omnibus based on a representative sample of around 1,000 adults at 72 sampling points.

Autonational Rescue is the car breakdown service with the no claims bonus, for more information visit www.autonational.co.uk or call 08459 100 345.

Ends

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Issued by: CPR Works Ltd
Contact: Roger Eversley/Jenny Carr
Tel: 01902 680068
E-mail: info@cpr.co.uk
Web: www.cpr.co.uk