"BERLIN, Germany -- A German motorist followed the command "Turn right now!" from his navigation system and crashed into a small toilet hut by the side of the road -- about 30 meters (yards) before the crossing he was meant to take.

The overly obedient 53-year-old from Freiburg drove his sport utility vehicle off the road onto into a building site, up a stairway and into the small toilet shack, police in the eastern town of Rudolstadt said on Sunday.

It caused 2,000 euros ($2,500) worth of damage to the stairway, 100 euros damage to his car, and he was also fined 35 euros.

Earlier this month an 80-year-old motorist also chose to follow his navigation system and ignored a "closed for construction" sign on a Hamburg motorway. He then crashed into a pile of sand but neither he nor his passenger were injured." (Courtesy of Reuters)

 

I've maintained for years that, IMO, these NAV devices were just an extra $2000 down the drain and added unnecessary complexity to dash controls and buttons. While some people have disagreed with me ( as is their right to ), cases like this, unfortunately, don't help their arguements very much.

My opinion still is.......learn to drive, keep your eyes on the road, save money, have an easier-to-operate car, spend a few dollars for a good road map or atlas, and leave these Star Trek devices for techno freaks.

 

I find NAVs very good to use. A lot faster to getting you to your destination, and most of the time, you don't have to worry about remembering where the highway is if you decide to exit for a lunch brake or something.

 

Maybe so, if they are accurate to start with and updated regularly to keep up with new construction and road closings....but as the posting shows, they can and do get people in trouble, especially those who are not good drivers to start with or are unattentative.

 

But a paper map still won't do what you want the nav to do, and won't tell of traffic like the xm traffic nav

 

Yes, I understand that some people disagree with me...and I accept that.

One of the issues with the XM traffic function, however, is that, especially in some chronic gridlock areas like the one I live in, it doesn't really matter much if one route has a bottleneck or not....much of the time, all the alternate routes or detours will end up having the same bottlenecks as well......and that function can only tell you OF traffic.....it can't make a clear road for you where one doesn't exist.

 

Navs are great, many find the quickest way to get to your location, which is soo much greater than having to look into a map. In my opinion, not hating on the elderly, but they shouldnt be on the road....Whenever i'm forced to drive 15 mph under the limit behind someone and finally able to pass them, its usually an elderly person who can barely see over the wheel. I think that for them and teens who are about to get their license should be given very strict tests to make sure they are able to drive functionally on the road and not become a hazard to anyone.

 

Man, I agree with you 100%. I hate navi's with a great passion. I am so glad that at least in new Lexii you can still use radio and AC without having to turn on that stupid screen.

 

I think NAVs are great ONLY when people know how to use it. For some, it adds to the complexity of dash controls. For older folks that's even worse. For young people like me (lol) I rely on NAV when I need it, but I have enough common sense not to make mistakes like these.

But no one should solely rely on the NAV for anything. It's a hard-drive (or DVD) with pre-installed maps and pre-recorded voices guiding your car via judgments of an outdated CPU in the nav unit.

 

My only issue with the NAV system is that I lose situational awareness, I rely on the NAV to get me where I'm going and don't pay attention to how I got there.

 

I got the Nav system on my RX 330 because I found it handy using a laptop-based nav on my pre-nav RX 300. On long trips and in unfamiliar cities it is invaluable. I find it useful in town when running a series of appointments to keep me on track to remember to stop at the cleaners on the way to my next call as I work my way across town. It's even handy in off-road situatioins, to get me back to at least a graded county road after dark.

I understand the German motorist's response. Germany does not allow a moving map display (too distracting) and permits only arrows and verbal instructions. Right now? JAWOHL!!!

 

We used to be hunters, navigators. We could remember simple things like.... where the hell we are. We knew not to drive into buildings, we understood that a computer is still just a computer and we are superior to it in many ways. The computer went from a nifty gadget to our lifeline as some seem to grasp onto it with such great force they would cease to function at all without it telling them what to do.

 

Clearly it was the driver's fault, and although I'm a fan of nav systems, there has to be a little common sense in using them.

 

Absolutely the driver's fault. Doesn't the lawyer screen already state something about the nav system simply being a tool to assist you in finding your way and should never be taken literally?