There are many benefits of Sat-Nav in location finding and journey-planning. I wouldn't deny that.
Like so many clever ideas, though, these benfits are diminished when let loose in the hands of idiots.
Some time ago some moron made the national news when she drove onto a railway line 'because the Sat-Nav told me to'. In my opinion she ought to be banned from driving for life because she is clearly too stupid; she wasn't looking at the road ahead of her, she wasn't looking where she was going. She is a danger to other road-users, and to herself.
I read something recently that said the number of bridge-hits has increased exponentially recently, and most of them are a result of tall vehicles being directed under them by Sat-Nav, and their drivers ignoring the warning signs. Again, idiots who aren't fit to be on the roads. Last year, a train I was on was delayed by a van hitting a bridge. At the time I blamed it merely on dangerous stupidity and didn't even factor in SatNav. This then led to a situation where I was late, and made later by trams not running as a result of a separate dangerous driver incident, probably not Sat-Nav related, which then impacted upon the timetable of the people I was meeting.
There are numerous reports of small villages being blighted by through-traffic directed there by Sat-Nav, and of through traffic being directed along roads with precipitous drops or which are not made-up. Thirty or more years ago there were some TV series called, if I remember, Six English Towns, Six More English Towns etc, hosted by someone called Alex Clifton-Taylor, a historian, who highlighted the blight on picturesque towns caused by heavy traffic trying to squeeze through narrow mediaeval streets.
That was part of a wider movement that led to many by-passes being built, cutting a swathe through the countryside including Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but at least removing the fumes, danger, noise and damage of heavy traffic from the homes and lives of ordinary people in small towns. Sat Nav has seen the return of this blight to the towns, as the by-passes have just generated increased volumes of traffic and are themselves congested, so the Sat-Nav finds way to by-pass the congestion by reverting to the ancient Roman Roads and Turnpikes built for horse-and-cart and designed to link towns to towns.
A few weeks ago I got a Sainsburys home delivery. He phoned to say he would be with me in twenty minutes. Twenty minutes later he phoned to say he was on my road but couldn't find my house. I directed him. It turned out he wasn't on my road, didn't know where he was. I gave the names of a few major roads, which meant nothing to him. In growing exasperation I said "Look at your map. My road is on the A-Z." He told me that he had SatNav, the SatNav told him he was outside my door. He wasn't. Nor was he at the end of the my drive. He insisted that his SatNav would lead him to my door. Eventually he arrived, having had to stop to ask a passer-by to direct him to a named road in order that I could then direct him from there. That was irritating, mildly annoying.
Middle England and Deepest Wales complain about the blight on their twee villages caused by SatNav (I bet many of their residents rely on it for their journeys, whereupon they blight other peoples' tweeness), and request for their villages to be removed from the scope of SatNav. This won't happen, reportedly, because Emergency Services rely on it to reach destinations. Which made me realise that the Sainsburys problem was merely an irritation, but translated to Emergency Services could literally mean the difference between life-and-death.
And this morning! One of those occasions I had my camera with me, was perfectly situated for a photo (on the top deck of the bus near the front) and didn't even think about it.
I was on the A23, not very farfrom the junction with the South Circular, two major roads of Regional significance. To my right a narrow through road that has traffic parked on either side, making it impossible for two Smart cars to pass each other except by strategic use of Passing Places (as in the Highlands and Islands of Remote Scotland).
This morning, on the narrow road facing the A23 Exhibit one a long wide flatbed lorry bearing a large piece of civil engineering. Trying to turn into narrow road was a long articulated container lorry, from its number plate (and the big sticker with a black-on-white "I") clearly not local. The container stretched across the entire Southbound carriage, the non-bus Northbond lane and most of the Northbound bus lane.
Both lorries stayed rooted to the spot. I expect the drivers were trying to outstare each other. Some of the Southbound traffic was U-turning onto the unsurprisingly empty northbound carriage (and doubtless vice versa). Most of the rest of the Southbound traffic just sat there. My bus, in the vanguard of Northbound traffic, sat there stationary for five minutes. Total impasse, a game of brinksmanship, no one going anywhere, all waiitng for someone to back-down.
Eventually my bus driver decided to drive onto the pavement, a pragmatic if illegal and potentially dangerous (especially at walk-to-school time) move.
I don't know for certain that the lorries were dependent upon SatNav, but I think they were. Topographically, it seems a logical route, but anyone with local knowledge or the ability to look out of their windscreen and see the road will know it really isn't good for heavy vehicles. But, relying on SatNav, they don't have an alternative. They "don't need" maps so don't carry them, and can't plan themselves out of a fix. The only direction is forward, no deviation, no independent thought. I imagine the SatNav was registering congestion (it was school run time), hence the alternative direction to avoid slow-moving traffic, and in doing that it compounded the congestion. Any cars, vans etc attempting to get round the obstacle would have risked a fine for driving in the Bus Lane before ten o'clock; their drivers would probably have complained, but continued to use their own SatNavs as a substitute for intelligent thought.
In the event my delay was minor, of the magnitude one should plan into any routine journey as a matter of course. I am not sure what would have happened if a fire engine on a blue light wanted to get past or through.
