Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Do navigation systems distract?

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2002 19:11:45 -0500

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20021205/bs_usatoday/4675351

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Business - USA TODAY

Do navigation systems distract?

Thu Dec 5, 8:00 AM ET

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Earle Eldridge USA TODAY

Drivers who use video navigation systems insist they do not distract them and want to be able to use them in more ways while on the move, says a new study by consultant J.D. Power and Associates.

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The drivers' opinion is opposite that of federal safety officials, who believe it is ''ill-advised'' to make navigation systems easier for drivers to use while moving.

The contrasting views set up a clash between those who favor tighter restrictions on navigation units and automakers, who hope to sell more of the profitable $2,000 systems to buyers who want to use them more freely underway.

About half of the navigation systems allow drivers or passengers to manipulate them while moving, creating a safety hazard, critics say. General Motors, worried about that, programs its systems to refuse inputs once the vehicle starts moving. ''We took the conservative route,'' says Jim Rillings, research fellow at GM Research and Design.

But that's unpopular, the Power survey found. Drivers get frustrated if they can't enter or alter route requests on the move, says Jeremy Bowler, a senior research manager for J.D. Power. Regulators overstate the danger, he says, by failing to note that people get less distracted as they become familiar with their systems.

Navigation systems use global positioning satellites to track the vehicle and guide it where the driver has chosen. The route is displayed on a dashboard screen, either as a map or a list of turn-by-turn instructions. Most systems also can give voice instructions, such as ''Turn left in 100 yards.''

Automakers, hurting for profits on new vehicle sales, are reluctant to slow the explosive growth of profit-making navigation. About 60 models offer navigation, up from seven in 1998. Power forecasts 300,000 vehicles with navigation systems will be sold this year, nearly double last year's 175,000.

Once a luxury option, navigation now is in mainstream cars such as the Honda Accord and Nissan Altima.

The Power survey of about 5,000 drivers who own cars with navigation systems shows that fewer than 3% of them believe the systems are distracting.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (news - web sites), which sets safety rules, studied in-car navigation in 2000 by having 16 drivers of varying ages operate navigation setups on a 7.5-mile test track. NHTSA concluded that drivers drift out of their lanes when operating navigation systems. NHTSA also has a complaint on file saying a woman was severely injured when a man staring at a navigation system in his rental car ran a red light and struck her vehicle. The man was killed.

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