Remember when getting lost was simply called driving somewhere unfamiliar?
According to new research commissioned by eBay, 69 per cent of UK motorists have experienced some kind of navigational mishap when driving without sat nav or a navigation app.
Almost half – 45 per cent – have got lost or taken a wrong turn, while 31 per cent say they have felt stressed, 29 per cent have travelled further than necessary and 25 per cent have arrived late.
And apparently we’re not getting much better at reading maps either. One in five drivers say they wouldn’t feel confident using a traditional road map or atlas when heading somewhere unfamiliar.
Navigation technology has become so ingrained that 21 per cent of motorists now use sat nav or a navigation app on most or every journey, even when they already know the route.
Smartphones are particularly dominant, with 46 per cent of drivers saying an app displayed on their phone or through phone mirroring is their most commonly used navigation method. That compares with 29 per cent who primarily use their car’s built-in navigation and just 5 per cent who reach for a physical road atlas.
And drivers increasingly want more than somebody telling them to turn left in 200 metres. Live traffic information is considered the most useful feature by 36 per cent of respondents, followed by estimated arrival times at 34 per cent and automatic route recalculation at 27 per cent.
“Sat nav technology has transformed the way motorists get around,” says Abir Tewari, UK director of commercial operations, parts and accessories at eBay.
Drivers can apparently handle the complexities of modern navigation technology just fine. Finding the right road without it, however, may be another matter entirely.
The research was conducted by OnePoll among 2,000 UK motorists.
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