Lately, a lot of research has been conducted regarding the relation between navigational products and traffic safety. TU Delft, the technological university in the Dutch city of Delft, has also shed some light on the subject. In a mutual effort with GPS developer CosmicNavigation (Cartrek, inVion, RoadNavigator), new navigational software has been developed which provides a positive contribution to traffic safety.Difficult
Joris Teeuwen, who led the TU Delft project team explains: “A lot of GPS system users stare too long at the screen, and this prevents them from having their eyes on the road. It seems users find it too difficult to quickly and correctly interpret the information on the screen.” For this reason, CosmicNavigation and the TU Delft researchers have examined the way people look at a navigational screen. “People have lots of different ways of looking at the information”, says Teeuwen. “Some like a complete overview of their surroundings, while others only would like a small arrow which points them in the right direction.”According to a spokesman for CosmicNavigation, their newest software helps users to comprehend the information on the screen more quickly. “Recent research has shown that navigational software has a positive influence on traffic safety. This new software will only increase this effect. Male or female, linguist or mathematician, everybody will have their routes presented to them in the most comprehendable way, and so they can give their full attention to the traffic again.”
