LOST DELIVERY DRIVER

I recently spoke to a delivery driver and asked why he was running late.

His reply was simple: ‘I got lost. They gave me a new delivery destination that I've never been to before.’

I asked the obvious question: ‘Do you use a satnav?’

‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I use Waze on my phone, but it lost the signal and I ended up an hour late.’

It is a small story, but it says a great deal about modern navigation.

When Technology Becomes a Single Point of Failure

Many drivers today depend entirely on smartphone navigation apps such as Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps. Most of the time they work extremely well, offering live traffic updates, rerouting and estimated arrival times.

However, they all share one weakness. They are technology. Technology can fail.

• Mobile signals disappear.
• Batteries run flat.
• Phones overheat.
• Charging cables fail.
• Apps crash.
• Incorrect destinations are entered.

When that happens, many drivers discover they are not actually navigating at all; they are simply following instructions.

A Navigator Can Continue

A driver with navigation skills does not become helpless when the screen goes blank.

They may not know the exact route, but they usually know:

• the general direction of travel,
• the nearest town,
• the major roads,
• how to use road signs to rebuild the route.

In other words, they can continue navigating. The satnav has stopped working, but the navigator has not.

The Difference Between Satnav Failure and Navigation Failure

This distinction is important. A satnav failure is simply a technical problem. A navigation failure occurs when the driver no longer knows how to proceed without the technology. The two are not the same.

Many experienced drivers have found themselves continuing perfectly successfully after a device failure simply because they understood where they were and where they were trying to get to.

Building Resilience

Good navigation is about resilience. Before setting off, it helps to know:

• the general direction of travel,
• the major roads involved,
• the approximate location of the destination,
• alternative routes if necessary.

This takes only a few minutes but provides a valuable safety net if technology lets you down.

The Driver Decides

Satnavs are remarkable tools and have transformed road travel. But they remain aids to navigation, not replacements for it.

As the delivery driver discovered, sometimes the satnav goes silent. When that happens, the navigation skills of the driver become important once again.

Satnav guides. The driver decides.