In uk.rec.gps, nospam belched forth and ejected the following:
I hate to say this but yes. When in a very unfamiliar place where you don't know which lane to be in or when you hear your "co-pilot" telling you to "take the exit" when you're actually in lane 2 then, yes, it's very distracting. At least with paper maps one has to pull over to read and digest the information, with sat-nav, the boundaries between what's right and wrong and intelligence gets blurred.
In some cases I find it easier to put my sat-nav in a bag on the pbuttenger seat and just have the spoken instructions read to me.
It isn't the screen that distracts, it's the not knowing where you are but thinking you do 'cos the sat-nav said so.
I agree with the point Mr X says about ignoring certain instructions. I still believe the best way from A-B is a paper map but it's once you get into the towns and unfamiliar cities that they become invaluable. Even if you're going 5 miles out of your way it can save you as fortune in fuel, headaches and stress.
