In pursuit of this job over 20 years, I've been lost in most of the provinces, many of the states and a comprehensive number of other countries, including but not limited to Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, Switzerland and the Soviet Union.
For the most part, being lost was fun. I didn't really mind the hours I spent driving around Prague, Lake Como, London, Paris, Tuscany and Leningrad looking for various hotels, for example, but I wish I could have back the 90 minutes I spent searching Newark for the place to return a press car.
These off-the-route excursions have always been measured in time lost, but thanks to a recent survey by the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company it's occurred to me that they could also be measured in gasoline wasted, and here again that tour of Newark comes to mind.
In an effort to promote the new navigation system with a Global Positioning System (GPS) set to debut in its Zephyr model this fall, Lincoln underwrote a survey about people's driving habits when they're looking for an unfamiliar destination, and it makes a very interesting point about how we waste fuel.
According to the Lincoln-sponsored survey, it turns out a lot of people spend a lot of time driving around looking for things and it equates to an enormous amount of time and fuel wasted, on top of the by-product aggravation and relationship stress.
Before we get any farther into this, though, it's important to note that using GPS navigation aid in your car does not always involve the purchase of a built-in system in a new vehicle.
For US$99.95, the folks at Delorme (www.delorme.com) will sell you a GPS locater and a software package for your laptop that tells you precisely where you are at all times on just about every road in the U.S. and most of the roads in Canada and Mexico and how to get to any street address or any one of four million attractions (hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.) across the continent. It also takes voice commands and will read you route directions.
I have been using variations of Delorme mapping software and its GPS device for about a decade all over the continent and it has more than repaid its cost in terms of time and frustration saved and, now that I think of it, gasoline wasted.
Not only did the Delorme system always get me to the right place, it often directed me to alternate routes when the primary path (usually an interstate) was jammed. This is also a gas saver, since you get zero kilometers to the litre when you're stuck motionless in traffic.
It's also worth mentioning that GPS-based in-car navigation systems can be an important security feature, since they can keep you from wandering into places you don't really want to go.
Route guidance might seem like a minor skirmish in the battle to save fuel and the environment, but the Lincoln survey suggests it's a lot more than that. Nearly 60 percent of drivers in the U.S. get lost a few times a year, the online survey by Harris Interactive reports, and there's no reason to believe Canadians wouldn't score about the same.
Consulting an online source is the most typical (76 percent) method of getting route guidance, the Lincoln survey shows, yet nearly 60 percent of the vehicle owners surveyed said they would use a GPS/navigation system instead if they had access to it. More interestingly for Lincoln and the other car companies that sell in-car guidance systems, 42 percent of the survey respondents said in-car navigation will be one of the their top-three features the next time they buy a new vehicle.
For the most part, being lost was fun. I didn't really mind the hours I spent driving around Prague, Lake Como, London, Paris, Tuscany and Leningrad looking for various hotels, for example, but I wish I could have back the 90 minutes I spent searching Newark for the place to return a press car.
These off-the-route excursions have always been measured in time lost, but thanks to a recent survey by the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company it's occurred to me that they could also be measured in gasoline wasted, and here again that tour of Newark comes to mind.
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| 2006 Lincoln Zephyr (photo: Ford Motor Company) |
According to the Lincoln-sponsored survey, it turns out a lot of people spend a lot of time driving around looking for things and it equates to an enormous amount of time and fuel wasted, on top of the by-product aggravation and relationship stress.
Before we get any farther into this, though, it's important to note that using GPS navigation aid in your car does not always involve the purchase of a built-in system in a new vehicle.
For US$99.95, the folks at Delorme (www.delorme.com) will sell you a GPS locater and a software package for your laptop that tells you precisely where you are at all times on just about every road in the U.S. and most of the roads in Canada and Mexico and how to get to any street address or any one of four million attractions (hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.) across the continent. It also takes voice commands and will read you route directions.
I have been using variations of Delorme mapping software and its GPS device for about a decade all over the continent and it has more than repaid its cost in terms of time and frustration saved and, now that I think of it, gasoline wasted.
Not only did the Delorme system always get me to the right place, it often directed me to alternate routes when the primary path (usually an interstate) was jammed. This is also a gas saver, since you get zero kilometers to the litre when you're stuck motionless in traffic.
It's also worth mentioning that GPS-based in-car navigation systems can be an important security feature, since they can keep you from wandering into places you don't really want to go.
Route guidance might seem like a minor skirmish in the battle to save fuel and the environment, but the Lincoln survey suggests it's a lot more than that. Nearly 60 percent of drivers in the U.S. get lost a few times a year, the online survey by Harris Interactive reports, and there's no reason to believe Canadians wouldn't score about the same.
Consulting an online source is the most typical (76 percent) method of getting route guidance, the Lincoln survey shows, yet nearly 60 percent of the vehicle owners surveyed said they would use a GPS/navigation system instead if they had access to it. More interestingly for Lincoln and the other car companies that sell in-car guidance systems, 42 percent of the survey respondents said in-car navigation will be one of the their top-three features the next time they buy a new vehicle.