Road safety charity BRAKE is claiming that in-car satellite navigation using on-screen maps distracts drivers and should be banned. The claim, which also includes car stereos and hands-free mobile 'phones, is based on yet another 'survey' of 1000 drivers.
But fighting back on the other side is ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries who comments, "We cannot base road safety on potentially loaded, unscientific surveys. Road users have to deal with many potential hazards and distractions every day. This 'ban everything' mentality is not the way forward.
Instead, we need to teach people to recognise potential dangers and how to deal with them. Countless drivers have been safely guided to an unfamiliar destination using satellite navigation, which is likely to have had an overall positive effect on road safety."
It's ironic that BRAKE also bemoans the catastrophic loss of traffic police, replaced by the unjustified proliferation of single-function speed cameras, which they have staunchly supported. Confused? Yes so am I. Make your minds up which side of the fence you want to be sitting on here please.
Now I am a great fan of BRAKE and they do try to actively promote road safety but sometimes we, as drivers, get a bit fed up of being told what we can or cannot do in the car.
The next thing they will ban is men picking thier noses! God forbid.
Jackie Violet