Engadget has picked up on a couple of recent news items; namely, that certain British drivers apparently place more trust in their GPS units than they do their own road knowledge.

Now, I like to think I’m a reasonably good driver but my route knowledge is awful. Truly awful. I couldn’t give you directions to my office even though I drive there every day because I take little notice of various points of reference I could use and would therefore tie myself in knots trying to think which road you’re supposed to take (”Take the third right… no, wait, the fourth right… I think?”). Don’t even get me started on road names; I can remember the the names of barely a handful of the local roads, and I’ve lived here for over five years. It’s a wonder I don’t get lost on my daily commute; I reckon it must be some sort of muscle memory. I’m set in my ways, though, and even if I could cut my travel time in half by taking a different route I’d think twice before trying it; I certainly wouldn’t try it without a roadmap, my GPS and an atlas, just in case.

All this means I have every sympathy with these drivers who are taking ridiculously roundabout routes via tiny little villages just because their GPS told them it’s the best route; I would probably do the same, even if there were big flashing neon signs telling me that another route was the quickest, most direct one, and I had someone sitting in my car giving me precise directions, and I was following a convoy of locals who know the area like the back of their hands. Seriously, GPS would win every time.

However, I can’t remember the last time I went anywhere with my GPS; I scared myself one time, as I had a 10-hour drive which I did more-or-less in one go and by the end I was treating it like some kind of Mario Kart-esque display, wondering why the other cars weren’t showing up on it (and, more importantly, when one of the bastards was going to get me with a blue shell). Once I’d reached my destination and realised how foolish I was being (I was never in the lead so the blue shell wouldn’t touch me), I vowed not to use the GPS again until I could be trusted not to use it to weave between other cars.

The fact that I haven’t set it up since speaks volumes, I think.