Why I Am So Much Smarter Than The Rest Of The World, Part 2

Hi again, everyone. Pardon my lack of creativity, but I feel I must beat this dead horse once more. This was prompted by this news story I ran across on the internet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070807/od_nm/britain_maps_odd_dc_1;_ylt=Amy0zNqoZnWuAnZSCwN7VLUE1vAI

According to this story, more than 3/4 of British drivers cannot read a road map, and only 1% would be able to pass the test for a Cub Scout Map Reader Badge. I don't know what is involved to pass the test, but it certainly doesn't sound promising for the intelligence level of British drivers.

I don't know if I could find my way back home in the wilderness with just a map and compass, but I can find my way from place to place with a decent road map, and I'd like to think that I could do a decent job of finding my way around without a map, given enough time to get lost a couple of times. :-)

The reason, according to the story, is that motorists have become too reilant on GPS navigation systems, which are apparently reasonably prone to error. According to the story, British motorists drive 36 BILLION extra miles each year. That's right, BILLION! (You know, if Al Gore is so terribly concerned about global warming, maybe it would be worth one of his private jet rides to England to teach those apparently ignorant Brits how to read their maps.)

And that's not the only problem that GPS navigation systems are causing in Europe. I ran across another story a few months ago about European motorists' irrational insistence on obeying the commands of their navigation systems. It seems that there have been many accidents and at least a few people killed as a result of people turning when their system says to turn, regardless of whether there is a road to turn onto! People have been driving off of roads, sometimes hitting pedestrians and roadside stands in the process. And if my memory serves me correctly, a few people have even driven off of bridges because their navigation systems told them to turn NOW!

Then there was the case of a medical transport that ended up halfway across England from where it was supposed to go because the address was incorrectly entered into the navigation system. Fortunately, though, I don't think that it was a high priority transport.

Hopefully those Europeans will get smart before they kill too many people, or earn too many Darwin Awards! :-)

Anyway, until next time.....