Backseat drivers are you able to explain why you do it, please?

[upperlowerallover]

I gave a colleague a lift home from a night out last weekend.

I put my sat nav on to get home. I always do when it’s a journey of 15 minutes or more as it’s less thinking for me. I

I don’t have the sound on it, I really struggle with auditory instructions of any kind so this is how I find my way about. I am a safe and competent driver who has never had an accident.

My colleague got in the car and - unprompted- proceeded to direct me at every single junction/roundabout/ turn.

For me, this is as distracting as someone tapping me on the shoulder and saying “look over THERE!” I was trying to focus on the road and my journey but had CONSTANT interjections from her about what lane to be in, etc etc.

In the end I had to stop the car and explain that you shouldn’t distract someone when they are driving and if I wanted help I would ask for it.

Can I please ask - if you are someone who does this, without being asked for your input - WHY?

I can chat just fine I just can’t switch focus from the sat nav to someone shouting at me to take the left turn I’m already focussing on taking

I know she could see it but lots of people just have sat nav 'on' but not actually directing them. I certainly do for speed limits. If she jumped in the car and you asked for her address and then clearly put it in the sat nav in front of her she was a bit daft really. If it's possible she hadn't clocked that you'd put her address in then I'd cut her some slack. It would be entirely normal for her to assume she needed to direct you.

But in future, speak up straight away rather than silently fuming until you have to pull over!

When DP does it it’s because he wants to ‘prove’ he ‘knows better’ than the sat nav but he’s learned (finally) that it’s not helpful, it’s just ego.

@Taweofterror Makes a good point too. As soon as I get in the car and my phone connects I get a map up on the screen but I don’t ever look at it as I’m rarely going somewhere I don’t know the way to. It’s just there unless I actively turn it off. If your sat-nav wasn’t on audio then perhaps they didn’t realise you were using it. Because of the way my own set-up works I wouldn’t assume a map on a screen with no sound was actually directing the driver.

Fair point but my car is old and I appreciate I called it a sat nav, but it’s my phone that I got out, typed ‘home’ into as I know my way to hers once I’m back to mine.

My FIL is a non-driver but still likes to give helpful pointers to whoever is driving him around. He also leans right forward and shouts "clear left!" at junctions, and every single time I remind him that I'm not going to pull out until I've seen for myself that the road is clear. He's not being a dick, he's genuinely trying to help but it makes me want to strangle him.

In fairness, some people are bloody dreadful drivers. It’s hard not to speak up when someone has poor road positioning, has no concept of how wide (or not!) their car is or is generally just driving like they need to retake their test.