Human vs Sat Nav

When you’re learning to drive it’s very easy to rely on your instructor giving you directions. You may respond in the same way to a sav nav, but it’s important to realise the difference.

Your instructor will not only have a good knowledge of the road layout but is physically in the car, and will be checking road signs and other road users before deciding which way you should go.

The sav nav will just be calculating the fastest way from A to B. This is obviously very useful, the days of struggling to check a gigantic map whilst pulled over at the side of the road are long gone! You still have to be aware of where you’re going, checking road signs and making judgement calls to make sure that the sav nav hasn’t made a mistake. We’ve all heard the stories of people ending up in a river or going the wrong way up a motorway because they followed their sav nav without using common sense.

Planning ahead when driving is part of independent driving, this means that you are not only aware of your route, but have looked ahead to check for road signs that may be warning of a closed road or one-way system. This will ensure you’re not making late decisions about your route, so you have time to get into the right lane. Making sure you have time to use your mirrors, signal and manoeuvre and make sure you’re correctly positioned the car will make navigating a busy junction much easier and safer.

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