Home PageFacebookRSS News Feed
PocketGPS
Web
SatNav,GPS,Navigation
Pocket GPS World - SatNavs | GPS | Speed Cameras: Forums

Pocket GPS World :: View topic - Driving with satnav can cause blindness to other hazards
 Forum FAQForum FAQ   SearchSearch   UsergroupsUsergroups   ProfileProfile   Log in for private messagesLog in for private messages   Log inLog in 

Driving with satnav can cause blindness to other hazards

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Pocket GPS World Forum Index -> News And Latest Information
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Darren
Frequent Visitor


Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40
Posts: 23848
Location: Hampshire, UK

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:30 pm    Post subject: Driving with satnav can cause blindness to other hazards Reply with quote

pocketgpsworld.com
Driving with a satnav guiding you can be dangerous according to a study by the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience..

In tests it was demonstrated that the act of trying to retain a visual memory of an image from the satnav screen can lead to you missing events happening in front of your eyes.

This "inattentional blindness" has been demonstrated in other studies including the 'invisible gorrlla' where people shown a video of a basket ball game fail to notice the man dressed in a gorilla suit who walks across the court.

The research has shown that the increased memory load caused by having to retain the mental image of the directions displayed on the satnav causes the blindness to other events and hazards.

Source: University College of London

email icon

_________________
Darren Griffin
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Guivre46
Frequent Visitor


Joined: Apr 14, 2010
Posts: 1262
Location: West London

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Similar to the research about trying to follow a route on a sat nav. How does keeping an image of the manouevre in your mind differ between a road atlas and a sat nav? If anything I'd have thought the sat nav needed less attention?
_________________
Mike R [aka Wyvern46]
Go 530T - unsupported
Go550 Live [not renewed]
Kia In-dash Tomtom
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kevinx
Regular Visitor


Joined: Jul 31, 2005
Posts: 216
Location: Northern Earth!! ;-) (Essex)

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's even MORE dangerous driving without common sense,

(for the idiots who end up in streams etc, and blame their sat nav)

Can they say 'RED' backwards?? ;-)
_________________
HTC OneX (IceCreamSandwich), HTC DesireHD (Gingerbread) Co-Pilot Premium, GoogleMaps+CamerAlert352
TomTomOne (Original with the faster processor!)
v7.903, o/s 2344, GPSv1.21 Boot 5.0500
Mv710.1561(W Europe)+Traffic, N82 connection to GPRS traffic
+
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
M8TJT
The Other Tired Old Man
The Other Tired Old Man


Joined: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 10118
Location: Bexhill, South Sussex, UK

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You are far more likely to stop to read a map.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Anita
Pocket GPS Moderator
Pocket GPS Moderator


Joined: Mar 15, 2006
Posts: 3219
Location: Windlesham, Surrey

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

M8TJT wrote:
You are far more likely to stop to read a map.

But then you have to retain a mental image of the route shown on the map, whereas with satnav you know you'll get spoken directions as you approach a turn so don't need to retain the image.
_________________
Anita
TomTom VIA 135 - App 12.075
UK map 1125.12264
Samsung Galaxy S21
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
253
Lifetime Member


Joined: Mar 05, 2007
Posts: 1058
Location: The green bit between the M40, M4 and M25.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kevinx wrote:


Can they say 'RED' backwards?? ;-)


Love it, nice one. Laughing
_________________
Triumph Tbird 1700. And now a Bonnie T100.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
IanS100
Frequent Visitor


Joined: May 05, 2008
Posts: 870
Location: Southport

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As has been said, I think it's a lot more distracting trying to remember directions from a map, but it's not just sat navs, what about volume of traffic, complicated road layouts, traffic signs, one way systems, speed cameras and traffic calming etc etc, thye're all adding to increased memory & work load. In the face of all those I'd rather have a sat nav than paper maps, notes or trying to remember where I'm going
_________________
Galaxy Note 4 / TomTom GO : CamerAlert : CoPilot
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
M8TJT
The Other Tired Old Man
The Other Tired Old Man


Joined: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 10118
Location: Bexhill, South Sussex, UK

PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

But those things are normal driving 'hazards' for which you don't have to remember and can be seen by looking out of the window. I agree that I would prefer a satnav to paper maps, but that's not the point that the University were making. It is generally accepted that phone calls distract a great deal even when hands free, the University is just effectively saying that the satnav does it as well.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gl3n
Occasional Visitor


Joined: Mar 11, 2006
Posts: 17
Location: Central Scotland

PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have to agree. Nearly had a head on the other day as the other driver was on the wrong side of the road going the wrong way through a junction (as in the wrong side of the small island/bollard) and peering around the satnav as it was right in front of them on the windscreen. Shocked
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
M8TJT
The Other Tired Old Man
The Other Tired Old Man


Joined: Apr 04, 2006
Posts: 10118
Location: Bexhill, South Sussex, UK

PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think that that was the point the University were making, but equally as valid and illegal Shocked
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Neil_mellerick
Occasional Visitor


Joined: Sep 13, 2006
Posts: 2
Location: Saffron Walden, Essex

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What always amazes me is the number of people (including a TV reporter during this week's Panorama program) who place the SatNav unit directly in their line of sight on the windscreen thereby significantly reducing their view of road obstacles, particularly the nearside kerb/pavement.

The differences between a paper map and a SatNav is that the paper map is a single image which is retained as a snapshot, but the SatNav is a moving image, requiring a huge amount more processing power from the visual cortex, which can interrupt other visual streams.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
navtrav
Regular Visitor


Joined: 03/01/2003 19:00:24
Posts: 122
Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Grief, there are all sorts of distractions that could cause us to crash - two kids fighting in the back for stressed out mum just one example.

It's a marvel that universities are allowed to waste money researching the obvious but equally a marvel that we're not all involved in a crash every day.
_________________
Tim
------------

Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Tablet S, TomTom. Osmand+ and Sygic. Ex-TomTom Go 1000 Live, ex-TomTom Go 700, ex-TomTom truck, ex Navman/Ipaq
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
nickhoare
Occasional Visitor


Joined: Dec 22, 2006
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anita wrote:
M8TJT wrote:
You are far more likely to stop to read a map.

But then you have to retain a mental image of the route shown on the map, whereas with satnav you know you'll get spoken directions as you approach a turn so don't need to retain the image.


Having used 2 or 3 satnavs I have yet to find one where you could rely entirely on the spoken directions.

I agree with the comment that a satnav directly in the line of site on the windscreen may be an issue. It is always going to be there in your peripheral vision.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
ianhb
Occasional Visitor


Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 39
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The study only gives SatNav use as an example of the effect, it was not a study involving or examining SatNav use. A discussion of the study is equally valid on a Basketball playing Gorillas forum, as on this one Wink

Another example of the effect, as experienced by two friends of mine many years ago, is a driver focussing on looking for a side road, or direction sign, to a particular place, and then turning right into that side road, without 'seeing' the immediate oncoming car. Two cars were written off, but fortunately no people; if the concentrating driver had had a passenger, the story would have been different.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
JimmyTheHand
Frequent Visitor


Joined: Apr 16, 2005
Posts: 386

PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It would be interesting to see whether regular use of a SatNav reduces the amount of brain processing required to follow a strange route - when I first got one I used it on my regular routes to and from work for quite a while, so when I went somewhere I didn't know, I could follow it without thinking about it.

Because the sat nav only tends to give limited information a lot of it will become ingrained as habit, e.g. turn right on roundabout xth exit just becomes a case of recalling not remembering a symbol which I believe is less effort.

Similarly the 3d view ahead, is just showing you a representation of what you see out of the window - therefore there is little work for the brain to translate into which road/junction/exit to take.
_________________
J.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message







Posted: Today    Post subject: Pocket GPS Advertising

Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Pocket GPS World Forum Index -> News And Latest Information All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

Make a Donation



CamerAlert Database

Click here for the PocketGPSWorld.com Speed Camera Database

Download Speed Camera Database
22.034 (27 Mar 24)



WORLDWIDE SPEED CAMERA SPOTTERS WANTED!

Click here to submit camera positions to the PocketGPSWorld.com Speed Camera Database


12mth Subscriber memberships awarded every week for verified new camera reports!

Submit Speed Camera Locations Now


CamerAlert Apps



iOS QR Code






Android QR Code







© Terms & Privacy


GPS Shopping