To think being able to follow basic directions without a satnav is an essential part of being able to driv

[Plateofcrumbs]

DH insists on driving the car when we travel together despite the fact he has no sense of direction and is useless at following road signs. He is totally dependent on the satnav, even for journeys we have done many times. If the satnav lets us down we inevitably get lost, take the wrong exits off roundabouts or take ridiculous routes just brcause the satnav tells us.

AIBU to think if he can't cope without the satnav he should let me drive?

I understand that the test now will be something like 'drive to Guildford following the signs'. Would he pass?

This is what the "independent driving" part of the current test is about - following signs and making decisions without direct instructions. Sat navs not allowed.

YANBU.

I always did the navigating pre-satnav and due to that and other factors am very good at remembering routes/finding my way around. DH tends to panic if he's not been somewhere before a zillion times and needs directions to include what lane he should be in (on a straight dual carriageway with no exits for 10 miles...). If I was driving and took a wrong turn I was generally able to correct myself or else find a place to pull over and look at the A-Z.

Come the new car, with built-in satnav, and DH obeys her slavishly, completely ignoring anything I say (like when the satnav tries to take him through Central London during rush hour to go from Hanger Lane to Edmonton, disregarding the fact that we're on the North Circular...) Now that's annoying! He uses the satnav all the time and it always seems to take him on the most circuitous route possible. Very frustrating!

To be fair, DH is utterly rubbish at driving anywhere but from work to home to his family's house. This may out me, but he once went to visit university friends in Archway. I got a phone call from him many hours after he was due back to say he was in Oxford because he'd turned the wrong way and couldn't find a place to turn around and could I look at a map and tell him how to get home to Essex... hmm

I like the sat nav when you get into an unfamiliar city centre looking for an unfamiliar end location, but I do get a bit dismayed at the state of the world when you hear stories of people following sat navs off cliffs/down closed roads/to the moon.

I once had to navigate a motorway closure ahead by going into a services, reading a map in the shop (too tight to buy a local map for somewhere miles away) and then following the directions I'd looked up by key towns etc. Survived.

I do the same driving through europe, just list the key waypoint towns I need to head towards and go from there, meanwhile the sat nav tells me what time it think's i'll arrive, which is a useful feature the map doesn't do so well.

DH drives and I navigate, even though we have a satnav. You may want to suggest that to him. We tend to 'research' routes using online mapping websites before we go somewhere unfamiliar so we have an idea of how to get there. I keep an eye on the satnav and if it differentiates from the route we looked up, we usually take the one we looked up. The satnav usually recalculates and matches ours.

I mostly use the satnav for ETA and mileage calculation. Driving professionally for 30 years means I know where everything is anyway.

I agree that the two issues are separate, and he is BU to insist on driving when you are competent too - you should drive equal amounts of time.

On the satnav what matters is whether he's safe, and (to a much lesser degree) whether he wastes time and money. Clearly sometimes the latter is true.

FWIW I am another who can't do left and right. The test when I took it (more than ten years ago) included being able to follow directions, and it wasn't a new thing then. However, you were not penalized if you were told to turn right and you actually turned left, so long as you did so safely, indicating the way you turned and so on - because they did accept you might make errors.

So I think making errors, while annoying, isn't an issue if they're made safely. The issue is him insisting he always drives, which is selfish.

Having no sense of direction is definitely a "thing" see here :)

But yeah, if he won't let you drive, that's a bit of a problem.

Why can't you monitor the sat nav or check the map whilst he drives?

YABU

Satnavs are one of the best inventions ever, esp if you're driving in unfamiliar territory across multiple lanes of traffic. If your driving doesn't require much more than "take the A72 for 20 miles, turn right at the roundabout, you've reached your destination" then an AA road map probably does you fine - but for the rest of us driving many thousands of miles each year with work and social life, sat navs are essential.

Yes, in the dark ages of motoring (all of 20 years ago), it was common to see cars full of whimpering people sitting in laybys or on the hard shoulder, so lost and disorientated that they were unable to find their destination.

Some of the worst cases just had to sit there until satnavs were invented- there is the story of a Mr Rowe from Bodmin who had to spend 6 years living in his silver Vauxhall Corsa outside a Halfords on a trading estate in Slough, until he was able to purchase an early model and find his way home.

I don't recall seeing cars full of whimpering people sitting in laybys, but I do recall getting lost en route - with subsequent familial homicide - was a common occurrence on unfamiliar journeys. Then, with the event of technology came satnavs, and despite the Luddites (who could be spotted clutching the latest version of the AA UK Road Atlas) best endeavours, these incidents dwindled from many to few.

Hurrah for satnavs, hurrah for progress!

As the person who has tried to read a map to find out if we need to turn off at the next rapidly approaching junction, I say "all hail the mighty sat nav"!

Like all technology, it has it's place imo.

Tbh (have never used a Satnav) if there are two people in the car, the "navigator" is always the one not driving.

It is up to you, in the passenger seat, to tell him which way to go if the Satnav lets you down imo .

I will be teaching the DC to navigate with a proper map, when the time comes.

There is no correlation between using sat navs and being bad at driving- stop trying to pretend that there is.

I use sat nav for most journeys I go on. I have no sense of direction and new places can take me an extra half or an hour to get to. I wouldn't attempt London driving without one and actually wouldn't recommend most people to.

Plus, my new one routes me by traffic so I'm always on the fastest route! smug

It is perfectly possible to be overly reliant on the satnav.

I hate being a passenger when my DF is driving when I know the area and he doesn't, because he puts the satnav on and listens for instructions, ignoring the person with local knowledge sitting next to him telling him that he needs to change lanes now as he'll be turning right at the roundabout and it can be difficult to change lanes when it's busy.

Then the satnav says "At the roundabout, take the third exit..." and he swerves across 3 lanes of traffic.

Obviously local knowledge is superior to satnavs (except the ones which bypass the traffic jams etc) - but for those of us who often drive alone to unfamiliar places (or are driving with partners and don't want to rely on a roadmap which might be out of date) they are a godsend.

We once drove to Spa in Belgium, using maps. We got to Lille, in France, but near the border, and it was not at all clear which road to take. Places in France were brilliantly signposted. Places in other countries, not so much. We wasted an hour, driving around Lille, before eventually taking the road to Brussels (which was not the right direction, but we just realised that once in Belgium, we'd get roadsigns to Belgian places.)

Since then, we have done similar journeys using satnav - so much easier!

I think that no idea how to get from A to B maybe isn't good.

Sat nav handy for finding your way around B once there though!

I have dyscalculia, which means my internal compass is non-existent. I can remember very familiar routes, but if I go on a construction detour, I can't figure out where I am in relation to what.

But I can't drive in many places anyway because it affects my depth perception and I can't tell the difference between a short and long distance. Our car is scraped and banged up from parking disasters and rear ending accidents due to it. So DH drives for the safety of the baby.

In anycase, I'll got with you're being slightly unreasonable. But just slightly. If they truly can't navigate and tell where they are, it might affect other areas of driving too that could make them dangerous behind the wheel.

I think diddl has put it very well.

For example, I know how to get to Devon from South Yorkshire, but would struggle to find my way around Exeter.

"I think diddl has put it very well."

I had no idea that people just used a sat nav to get to an unfamiliar place.

I thought that you'd do a quick look online or at a map first to get an idea of the route/road types.

That's what we do diddl. I love maps (I'll get my anorak ) and like to get an outline of where we are going. It's the intricate bit at the end that sometimes requires a satnav, especially if I am driving on my own and don't have someone to navigate for me.

I would never totally rely on a satnav and always keep a map in the car.

You can use your satnav to get an overview first and then home in on specific areas iykwim. Great if you suddenly find yourself having to drive many miles and no map in the car/access to a PC.

I passed my test after the 'independent driving' element was introduced (and FWIW you I don't think you actually can fail for going the wrong way, provided you're in the correct lanes etc, and you can ask for the instructions to be repeated as many times as you want) but I use my satnav for most journeys. I drive a lot in central London and I find it useful to know which lane I need to be in as I approach junctions, as you have to chop and change at nearly every one, and with the amount of congestion it can be hard to change lane once you're queued up in traffic.

Cruising down the motorway though I would expect most people to be able to identify the lane they needed to be in and the exit they need long before they approach it! There's not much else to do on a motorway except observe your surroundings for changes!