A third of adults can't read a road map
The results reveal that approximately 35 per cent of drivers cannot read a basic road map.
Over a third of motorists struggled to read a four figure grid reference and a staggering 83 per cent failed to identify the 'motorway' map symbol.
Additionally, over 1000 drivers were questioned to find out how much the nation's map reading skills have been affected by new technology. One in six (16 per cent) of drivers no longer keep a map in their car, with the majority (63 per cent) admitting to only keeping out of date maps in the car.
Eight per cent admit they could not live without their SAT-NAV systems and 63 per cent of those questioned admitted they would be well and truly lost without their satellite navigation (SAT-NAV) system.
Despite this up to 36 billion wasted miles are driven by lost motorists each year - with 50 per cent of motorists claiming that their SAT_NAV system drives them mad at least once a month.
When it comes to traditional cartography and the battle of the sexes, men claimed to be better than women at reading maps although results showed that both sexes had fairly equal skills, with 62 per cent pf women being able to correctly decipher four figure grid references compared to 68 per cent for men. However, ladies scored higher when it came to correctly identifying map symbols.
The top 10 most confused road map symbols are mud, motorway, bus or coach station, nature reserve, public convenience, railway station, place of worship wit spire and camp site.
Scott Sinclair from Ordinance Survey, Britain's national mapping agency, said, "It's time for motorists to take a refresher in map reading skills. Technology is great but the batteries won't run out on a paper map. No serious hill walker would rely totally on a GPS device in case the power goes or the signal is lost, so it should be the same for the motorist."
"Many people still enjoy maps and they can really help you build a sense of world around you. Knowing how to read a map gives you access to much more information than a set of instructions on a screen."
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