On Sep 19, 3:04?am, wrote:
3. Set notifications for your travel route- No more missing an exit on
a freeway, and then taking a 3-mile detour! Your GPS navigator can
guide you along the way so that you don't miss any turns or highway
exits...http://personaltechinfo.googlepages....e_your_new_gps

4. Get so damn distracted playing with the buttons and watching the
screen that you run into somebody else, with injury or death a
possible result.

We've got one of those devices built into the wife's 400H. It has a
safety feature included that makes it impossible to do very much with
the screen unless the transmission is in Park. I'd be astonished to
learn that the portable units selling for a few hundred bucks and
plugging into the 12V cig-lighter fitting are similarly equipped. The
Lexus also has a "voice recognition" system that allows the driver to
name a pre-programmed destination, say "begin guidance", and then the
system will give verbal instructions that don't require looking at the
screen. "Take next exit, 1 mile ahead", "Take exit in 1/2 mile", "Take
exit 200 yards ahead", "Exit now, turn right at end of ramp...." No
visual interaction with the screen required. Why in blazes would
anybody mount something on top of the dashboard, where it would block
vision whether in use or not?

A chartplotter is one thing on a boat, where you can normally can take
your eyes off the water for 5 or 10 seconds without serious
consequence. In congested traffic situations typical in the Pac NW,
either you're sitting bumber to bumper on the freeway and averaging
less than 10 mph or you are surrounded by 75 mph maniacs
who think that half a second is sufficient following distance at that
speed. And don't suggest, "get over in the right lane if you're not
willing to exceed the speed limit as much as the fastest cars on the
road"- we *are* talking right lane. :-)

I see the near collisions, disregard for rules of the road, unsafe
passing, and failure to moderate wake when appropriate that result
from people allowing the electro nav stuff to run their boats. Whether
they are willing to admit it or not, a lot of folks are paying more
attention to the laptop than to the marine environment and many now
leave steering primarily to the autopilot/plotter combo. That's where
people are moving 10-15 kts with maybe 1/4 mile or greater clearance
in any direction. I don't want the guy in a car a couple of feet away
from me at 75 mph doing anything but paying attention to his driving-
no nav toys, no reaching for a cell phone, no tipping his head back to
drain the last few drops from his cup of coffee, no looking through
his CD's to put a new one in the player, nada but driving.

Folks living in a rural environment may have less reason to be
concerned.