Last year's novelty - global positioning devices " to provide directions for drivers have dropped dramatically in price and are now standard fitting in many upmarket cars.
They are becoming " a must have " for the socially mobile, and yet like so many " fad " products they will sit unused in most vehicles.
Common sense dictates that the vast majority of travel journeys are to places which we know well. Unless the occupation of the driver is cabbie or courier the need for directions during a journey would be a very rare event.
The directional aid can be compared to the rear window wiper. These are standard fitting to a vast number of makes and models - and yet how often do you see them in use - even in wet weather ?
Perhaps the proliferation of GPS devices will avoid the scrutiny of the road safety people only because of their lack of use. It would be reasonable to assume that a driver taking directions - either by looking at a map or following the directions of an electronic voice - would have a similar distraction factor to a driver using a mobile phone - and use of mobile phones while driving are banned and attract a heavy fine and loss of demerit points.
The danger period is immediately after sale and installation. The urge to try out " the new toy " is almost overwhelming. Fortunately it soon fades - but beware of the driver whose attention is concentrated on this device rather than on the surrounding traffic !
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