GPS stands for Gross Panicky Stress
January 26, 2018 6:22 PM Subscribe
I suffer from poor night vision and don't feel safe navigating unfamiliar routes on highways in the dark. The slight visual lag in judging how close a speeding headlight is as it approaches makes highway driving at night unsafe if I'm trying to figure out a route, particularly if it calls for city highway crossover driving with multiple exits from various lanes.
At night, I can drive highway routes I know very well, or else I want to go on non-highway routes. Problem: Using GPS to navigate.
I just got home from driving my kids to a party across town in a new to me neighborhood. Before leaving home, I looked at the big picture on my phone map. I knew how to get there, no highway necessary at all, in fact no highway would even improve things, even though the route was near a highway.
OK, we're driving along and suddenly the GPS starts telling me to take a U turn and get on the highway. Yes, that is one way you could go, but it seems ridiculous. I look at the app. The highway route suggested is: merging on, then a loop, then merging with another highway, then another loop, then back to almost where we could be in 5 minutes driving parallel to the highway.
So -- I ignore it. But of course, the road I'm on suddenly announces it's closed. Like, orange traffic cones, "ROAD CLOSED." OK, that's the issue.
I turn around. I know there's another road that goes to the party, because I've vaguely been here before. But the GPS is only telling me to get on the highway. I know the highway is under construction and is merging with a new interstate. The traffic on it is angry and fast and chaotic. I really don't want to do it. I try to look at the big picture, but the traffic is too fast and I can't.
Anxiety and panic are setting in. I want to pull off and look at the GPS. It starts telling me to turn around again and backtrack, and to take yet another highway to do this. Meanwhile the road I AM on is a state highway, so there's already a lot of 60 mph traffic and nowhere to pull over to look.
I ignore the GPS and try to find my own way. The stress is insane. I DO find my own way. GUess what. The party destination was about 2 minutes from the highway ramp on a regular road. Getting on the highway would, for me, have been a disaster, and for anyone it would have added time and weirdness to the route.
This happens to me ALL THE TIME. Trying to get in or out of unfamiliar cities, in the snare of those highways; trying to drive in unfamiliar cities, I'm taken on all kinds of roundabout routes that later I see don't really save time, except perhaps a few seconds in traffic.
I am feeling more and more anxious and unsafe about driving. I don't know how to drive without a big picture in my head, the way I grew up, and the GPS maps seem to abandon the original route I've chosen so frequently that I can't trust my own original plan if I don't really know the way. There are literally NO detailed current paper maps of my nearby big cities anymore!
I don't know how people handle this. If I were fine just cruising along on any highway, fine, I'd just blindly follow the GPS and get there eventually. But I can't do this at night.
I am using Google maps, Apple map, and some other free map on my phone.
**Is there anything better, anything that is known NOT to take complicated routes in the middle of a trip?**
And YES!! I set it to AVOID HIGHWAYS!
Extra problem: my regular passenger has trouble helping me navigate for various reasons, so please don't suggest that. It's just very stressful for us both. It's making me feel like a complete idiot, and as if I can't participate in my own society. Please help me figure this out.
(PS My driving vision is fine in terms of the DMV test. I just know I have enough of a lag with night lights that I can't be as safe as my comfort zone requires on the highway. Please trust that I really am safe to drive in the conditions I have designated as safe.)
I just got home from driving my kids to a party across town in a new to me neighborhood. Before leaving home, I looked at the big picture on my phone map. I knew how to get there, no highway necessary at all, in fact no highway would even improve things, even though the route was near a highway.
OK, we're driving along and suddenly the GPS starts telling me to take a U turn and get on the highway. Yes, that is one way you could go, but it seems ridiculous. I look at the app. The highway route suggested is: merging on, then a loop, then merging with another highway, then another loop, then back to almost where we could be in 5 minutes driving parallel to the highway.
So -- I ignore it. But of course, the road I'm on suddenly announces it's closed. Like, orange traffic cones, "ROAD CLOSED." OK, that's the issue.
I turn around. I know there's another road that goes to the party, because I've vaguely been here before. But the GPS is only telling me to get on the highway. I know the highway is under construction and is merging with a new interstate. The traffic on it is angry and fast and chaotic. I really don't want to do it. I try to look at the big picture, but the traffic is too fast and I can't.
Anxiety and panic are setting in. I want to pull off and look at the GPS. It starts telling me to turn around again and backtrack, and to take yet another highway to do this. Meanwhile the road I AM on is a state highway, so there's already a lot of 60 mph traffic and nowhere to pull over to look.
I ignore the GPS and try to find my own way. The stress is insane. I DO find my own way. GUess what. The party destination was about 2 minutes from the highway ramp on a regular road. Getting on the highway would, for me, have been a disaster, and for anyone it would have added time and weirdness to the route.
This happens to me ALL THE TIME. Trying to get in or out of unfamiliar cities, in the snare of those highways; trying to drive in unfamiliar cities, I'm taken on all kinds of roundabout routes that later I see don't really save time, except perhaps a few seconds in traffic.
I am feeling more and more anxious and unsafe about driving. I don't know how to drive without a big picture in my head, the way I grew up, and the GPS maps seem to abandon the original route I've chosen so frequently that I can't trust my own original plan if I don't really know the way. There are literally NO detailed current paper maps of my nearby big cities anymore!
I don't know how people handle this. If I were fine just cruising along on any highway, fine, I'd just blindly follow the GPS and get there eventually. But I can't do this at night.
I am using Google maps, Apple map, and some other free map on my phone.
**Is there anything better, anything that is known NOT to take complicated routes in the middle of a trip?**
And YES!! I set it to AVOID HIGHWAYS!
Extra problem: my regular passenger has trouble helping me navigate for various reasons, so please don't suggest that. It's just very stressful for us both. It's making me feel like a complete idiot, and as if I can't participate in my own society. Please help me figure this out.
(PS My driving vision is fine in terms of the DMV test. I just know I have enough of a lag with night lights that I can't be as safe as my comfort zone requires on the highway. Please trust that I really am safe to drive in the conditions I have designated as safe.)
Best answer: I have been, what we call in my family, "Google Mapped" too many times. It too often sends me in circles for local routes. Waze is the data that Google Maps is using. What I have learned to do is before I go on one of the types of trips that requires lots of local streets, I check the map on my PC and WRITE DOWN the directions. Then, like you, I have the big picture in my head and follow along with the paper or card on which I wrote it. I don't even turn on the GPS. I do load the address into the map just in case I need to use it, but mostly, I never start the directions. I just use written ones like I would have done 20 years ago.
The other thing you could do, depending on the trip, is scout it out in daylight. Driving your kid to a one off party is not worth scouting out the route, but if you are going to be going to that part of town regularly, driving the various local routes during the daylight hours can be a real help.
I do have the advantage of being a confident driver on both highway and city. I drive a big ass pickup truck into NYC regularly. Driving on the Major Deegan, the FDR and up and down the avenues, you either learn to be aggressively defensive (or defensive and aggressive at the same time) or you panic and never drive in NYC again.
posted by AugustWest at 6:56 PM on January 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
The other thing you could do, depending on the trip, is scout it out in daylight. Driving your kid to a one off party is not worth scouting out the route, but if you are going to be going to that part of town regularly, driving the various local routes during the daylight hours can be a real help.
I do have the advantage of being a confident driver on both highway and city. I drive a big ass pickup truck into NYC regularly. Driving on the Major Deegan, the FDR and up and down the avenues, you either learn to be aggressively defensive (or defensive and aggressive at the same time) or you panic and never drive in NYC again.
posted by AugustWest at 6:56 PM on January 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I have pretty severe driving anxiety, and I find GPS route navigation makes it substantially worse, because
a) the GPS voice stresses me out for a couple reasons (the scenario you describe would have me in tears)
and b) the GPS image changes all the time and so I have even more rapidly changing input to try and assimilate when I'm already trying to multitask at high speed.
In a nutshell, it's fucking distracting and I just can't deal with it.
The only solution that I have found is to do things the old fashioned way, with a written bullet list of directions created in advance. The nice thing about this approach is that if I hit a snag I can pull over and Google map a new route. I'll also take a screenshot or draw a simple map with the kind of information I need because having something static to look at helps.
Also, I would have absolutely pulled over or gotten off the highway to get my bearings and take a breather if I were having the kind of adrenaline surge you describe here. I give myself extra time to get places because it is ok to need a break even if that means I don't take the absolute perfect and efficient route.
You are not alone and you have totally got this!
posted by windykites at 7:03 PM on January 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
a) the GPS voice stresses me out for a couple reasons (the scenario you describe would have me in tears)
and b) the GPS image changes all the time and so I have even more rapidly changing input to try and assimilate when I'm already trying to multitask at high speed.
In a nutshell, it's fucking distracting and I just can't deal with it.
The only solution that I have found is to do things the old fashioned way, with a written bullet list of directions created in advance. The nice thing about this approach is that if I hit a snag I can pull over and Google map a new route. I'll also take a screenshot or draw a simple map with the kind of information I need because having something static to look at helps.
Also, I would have absolutely pulled over or gotten off the highway to get my bearings and take a breather if I were having the kind of adrenaline surge you describe here. I give myself extra time to get places because it is ok to need a break even if that means I don't take the absolute perfect and efficient route.
You are not alone and you have totally got this!
posted by windykites at 7:03 PM on January 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
Best answer: I've actually had the opposite experience as The Adamist - for the last couple of years I've done tours (driving to totally unfamiliar places all over the country) using a dedicated standalone GPS (one of the Garmin nuvi units), and it's been light-years better than any Android/iPhone/iPad app I've ever tried to use. It seems to be far more . . . . intelligent, if that's the applicable word, about routing, and especially about RE-routing if there's sudden construction or something. Like, all the apps seem to decide on a route before you start and if you get off that route all they know how to do is try to get you back on that route, plus they have an odd affinity for highways no matter what - whereas the Garmin just kind of shrugs, and figures well if you're here now, this is the simplest/fastest route to your destination.
The voice instructions are also much better on the Garmin, it usually gives you multiple warnings before turns and lane changes, I often pay no attention to the screen at all, and when I look at the screen it's actually helpful, like if I'm coming up to a place where a highway splits off another highway the screen will split and on the left side will be the usual map and on the right side will be a sort of "driver's point-of-view" animation of the highway split with proper signage and yellow lines telling me what lanes I need to be in to get off the proper exit.
There are also a variety of ways to look at the "big picture" or the "medium picture" of your route before and during the trip.
TL:DR - maybe try a new standalone GPS unit.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:32 PM on January 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
The voice instructions are also much better on the Garmin, it usually gives you multiple warnings before turns and lane changes, I often pay no attention to the screen at all, and when I look at the screen it's actually helpful, like if I'm coming up to a place where a highway splits off another highway the screen will split and on the left side will be the usual map and on the right side will be a sort of "driver's point-of-view" animation of the highway split with proper signage and yellow lines telling me what lanes I need to be in to get off the proper exit.
There are also a variety of ways to look at the "big picture" or the "medium picture" of your route before and during the trip.
TL:DR - maybe try a new standalone GPS unit.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:32 PM on January 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
I get a little like this too, when the GPS all of a sudden has a change in plans and i really don’t have a clue without it. But I have a horrible sense of direction. It’s epically bad. Stories are told of how easy it is to get me lost.
Before GPSs were a thing i used to make sure i had a map book in my car. Spiral bound, covered the whole metro area. Basically wouldn’t drive anywhere without it. I think they may still make these? I’ve been thinking of buying one again. And when the GPS becomes unreasonable and the phone becomes a distracting mess i still have my trusty map book. Now i feel old... “back in my day...”. but back then the map book didn’t give me panic attacks like that talking box telling me i needed to get across 4 lanes of traffic and then make a u-turn in a rediculous intersection.
At least it’s been years since it told me to drive though a field...
posted by cgg at 8:47 PM on January 26, 2018
Before GPSs were a thing i used to make sure i had a map book in my car. Spiral bound, covered the whole metro area. Basically wouldn’t drive anywhere without it. I think they may still make these? I’ve been thinking of buying one again. And when the GPS becomes unreasonable and the phone becomes a distracting mess i still have my trusty map book. Now i feel old... “back in my day...”. but back then the map book didn’t give me panic attacks like that talking box telling me i needed to get across 4 lanes of traffic and then make a u-turn in a rediculous intersection.
At least it’s been years since it told me to drive though a field...
posted by cgg at 8:47 PM on January 26, 2018
You write "I want to pull off and look at the GPS." Do that! Pull over and study the GPS until you have a plan. Then listen to one complete song with your eyes closed, while hydrating. Sing along with the song.
Also, have you learned the often subtle hints that the GPS screens give, such as the little arrows that tell you what lane to be in once you've exited a freeway, or that you have 0.7 mi 'til your next move, and it'll be a gentle left. Do you notice how the apps will give you a choice of routes? Sometimes you might prefer one route over the other. Do you have the traffic congestion setting turned on so it'll show traffic jams in red? And I know you mentioned not having a top-notch navigator, but do they know how to use these subtle hints to maximum effect? I pride myself on being a top-notch navigator. I announce the next move, usually several times, and as the move is being completed, announce the next move. For example "ok, great, now get in the left lane and in 0.2 miles we'll take a left on Elm Street. If you navigator is a future or current driver, perhaps have a convo with them about becoming a better navigator - it'll greatly help their driving. Also, be demanding of your navigator; model for them how you want to hear directions - "... and then I'll take a left?, right? in 45 feet? 45 miles?
Leave 20 minutes early for those situations you describe. You know they're gonna happen, they're a fact of life, plan for them.
As for night driving, yeah, the glare, the flashing lights, those modern bright headlights, those pedestrians wearing black! Feel free to go slower that the speed limit. Give yourself time to think. If I get tailgated, I just slow down more 'til they go around me. (Being sure to keep to the right in USA). I don't allow them to pressure me. If their headlights are in my eyes, I adjust my rearview and/or sideview slightly so that the glare goes down onto my lower face and out of my eyes.
You might try some of those amber night driving glasses.
They make headlights that are brighter and allow you to see farther down the road. (They cost more) Use your brights whenever it won't affect another driver.
Take Lyft! Or always know that if you get stuck, you can pull over and have Lyft take your kid the rest of the way. If fact, maybe do that once just to try it out!
posted by at at 11:41 PM on January 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also, have you learned the often subtle hints that the GPS screens give, such as the little arrows that tell you what lane to be in once you've exited a freeway, or that you have 0.7 mi 'til your next move, and it'll be a gentle left. Do you notice how the apps will give you a choice of routes? Sometimes you might prefer one route over the other. Do you have the traffic congestion setting turned on so it'll show traffic jams in red? And I know you mentioned not having a top-notch navigator, but do they know how to use these subtle hints to maximum effect? I pride myself on being a top-notch navigator. I announce the next move, usually several times, and as the move is being completed, announce the next move. For example "ok, great, now get in the left lane and in 0.2 miles we'll take a left on Elm Street. If you navigator is a future or current driver, perhaps have a convo with them about becoming a better navigator - it'll greatly help their driving. Also, be demanding of your navigator; model for them how you want to hear directions - "... and then I'll take a left?, right? in 45 feet? 45 miles?
Leave 20 minutes early for those situations you describe. You know they're gonna happen, they're a fact of life, plan for them.
As for night driving, yeah, the glare, the flashing lights, those modern bright headlights, those pedestrians wearing black! Feel free to go slower that the speed limit. Give yourself time to think. If I get tailgated, I just slow down more 'til they go around me. (Being sure to keep to the right in USA). I don't allow them to pressure me. If their headlights are in my eyes, I adjust my rearview and/or sideview slightly so that the glare goes down onto my lower face and out of my eyes.
You might try some of those amber night driving glasses.
They make headlights that are brighter and allow you to see farther down the road. (They cost more) Use your brights whenever it won't affect another driver.
Take Lyft! Or always know that if you get stuck, you can pull over and have Lyft take your kid the rest of the way. If fact, maybe do that once just to try it out!
posted by at at 11:41 PM on January 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Can you try just not using GPS at all for a while? (It sounds like you've been driving since before GPS was a thing, anyway.) If you get lost you can pull over and check a maps app or a road book like cgg mentioned.
A lot of people do still drive without GPS - it's not that weird.
posted by trig at 12:26 AM on January 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
A lot of people do still drive without GPS - it's not that weird.
posted by trig at 12:26 AM on January 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Occasionally a GPS will have a brain fart. A few weeks ago mine kept telling me to drive basically up into deserted mountains, do a U-turn, drive back out of the mountains, then do a U-turn and drive back...I was looking for something on the 1800 block and it was doing this on the 2800 block. Sometimes GPS will just fuck up once in a while.
I recommend pulling over, killing the GPS and then putting the address in again. That usually seems to fix the issue if it's really crapping up. (Is your regular passenger able to at least operate your phone well enough to do this?)
Other tips:
GPS will always want you to go on the freeway because they're designed to take the "fastest route" and freeways usually are. I kind of have to know where I am going and keep driving far enough away from the freeway until that's not an option any more before GPS will stop doing that.
GPS is not great with sudden traffic blockages. I had a similar experience to yours when I was trying to get out of a city and almost every single exit OUT of the city was blocked by construction. I pretty much had to give up and use my own navigation to find a way out.
The best suggestion I've got is to look ahead of time online at Mapquest or maps.google.com and get a printout of the route they suggest, and if GPS doesn't agree with it, try to follow it on your own.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:54 AM on January 27, 2018
I recommend pulling over, killing the GPS and then putting the address in again. That usually seems to fix the issue if it's really crapping up. (Is your regular passenger able to at least operate your phone well enough to do this?)
Other tips:
GPS will always want you to go on the freeway because they're designed to take the "fastest route" and freeways usually are. I kind of have to know where I am going and keep driving far enough away from the freeway until that's not an option any more before GPS will stop doing that.
GPS is not great with sudden traffic blockages. I had a similar experience to yours when I was trying to get out of a city and almost every single exit OUT of the city was blocked by construction. I pretty much had to give up and use my own navigation to find a way out.
The best suggestion I've got is to look ahead of time online at Mapquest or maps.google.com and get a printout of the route they suggest, and if GPS doesn't agree with it, try to follow it on your own.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:54 AM on January 27, 2018
Can you try the bike directions? It won't work in a very bike friendly city (e.g. a lot of dedicated bike paths that aren't on the road), but might where you live. You'll probably end up on some weirdly chosen residential streets, and certainly not the most efficient routes, but you won't be on the highway.
posted by lab.beetle at 10:03 PM on January 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by lab.beetle at 10:03 PM on January 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
In situations like that I plan out the route beforehand. Then I use the GPS without navigation, simply as a live map. I often disagree with its notion of how to get to where I'm going, but I appreciate that it helps me figure out where I am and see what roads are coming up.
posted by tangerine at 12:12 AM on January 29, 2018
posted by tangerine at 12:12 AM on January 29, 2018
In case you haven't done so already, set your GPS so that your direction of travel is always at the top. This works best for me. It's more intuitive -- for example, an upcoming right turn on the GPS exactly matches your view of the upcoming right turn as seen through the window.
With the other setting (in which North is always at the top), the display is always twisting around depending on which direction you're headed, which is confusing for me at least.
Like, all the apps seem to decide on a route before you start and if you get off that route all they know how to do is try to get you back on that route, plus they have an odd affinity for highways no matter what - .
I have to disagree with this. Google Maps on my iPhone is constantly recalculating to try to find the best route to my destination from wherever I am now, even if I've made a wrong turn or gone off the original course for whatever reason. And it takes me on lots of secondary roads.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:10 AM on February 1, 2018
With the other setting (in which North is always at the top), the display is always twisting around depending on which direction you're headed, which is confusing for me at least.
Like, all the apps seem to decide on a route before you start and if you get off that route all they know how to do is try to get you back on that route, plus they have an odd affinity for highways no matter what - .
I have to disagree with this. Google Maps on my iPhone is constantly recalculating to try to find the best route to my destination from wherever I am now, even if I've made a wrong turn or gone off the original course for whatever reason. And it takes me on lots of secondary roads.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:10 AM on February 1, 2018
the display is always twisting around
Sorry, badly worded. I should have said, "the direction of travel on the display is always twisting around ...." when it's set so that North is always at the top. At least for me, it's harder to follow the route in this display mode.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:18 AM on February 2, 2018
Sorry, badly worded. I should have said, "the direction of travel on the display is always twisting around ...." when it's set so that North is always at the top. At least for me, it's harder to follow the route in this display mode.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:18 AM on February 2, 2018
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I usually plow along on my preferred route until Waze/Google maps figures it out.
(Almost any app is better than the old standalone gps's that would insist on rerouting you doing uturns forever, hated those)
posted by TheAdamist at 6:35 PM on January 26, 2018 [3 favorites]