6:39pm Wednesday 17th March 2010
WRITE regarding the article about Hayley Townsend, the lady who blamed her sat nav system for sending her the wrong way down a street in London (Oxford Mail, March 4).
I have to say I have used one for years and have never got into this position.
These systems are a guide only, and expect the driver to use a modicum of common sense while behind the wheel. The system will not deliberately send you the wrong way, and probably intended her to take the next available right turn – using the road signs as the indication of which it was.
I always check which way to go before actually making the turn, and if it doesn’t look right, I won’t take it.
If you go off route, these systems will recalculate your route and put you back on track.
I realise that she is a reasonably new driver, and as such should really not be putting all her trust in a machine.
Many drivers nowadays have lost the ability to read maps or road signs, which is why these incidents crop up more often. The spokesperson for TomTom summed it up perfectly.
I am not saying that Miss Townsend is a bad driver, but clearly inexperienced.
I would advise her to carry on with the sat nav, but also plan her route on a map too.
I hope she has many happy years of motoring, and recovers from what must have been a very frightening experience, from which she will have learned much.
david cameron-young, Villeboys Close, Abingdon
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