Disabling satellite navigation screens when a car is in motion is a step too far, according to the majority of respondents to a Fleet News poll, which received a record number of responses.

The question was raised after Shell was reportedly in discussions with carmakers to have built-in satellite navigation screens disabled while vehicles are in motion.

Shell’s category manager, air, land and fleet/lease and the man responsible for managing its fleet, Claus-Peter Krueger, told Fleet News that the idea to disable satellite navigations screens was based purely on improving safety.

However, the company has now said it agrees with 70% of the poll’s respondents and does not believe satellite-navigation presented a danger to drivers.

Mike Watson, Shell’s global road safety manager, confirmed that the company is not planning to have screens disabled and neither has it instructed its drivers not to use aftermarket navigation systems.

“We have talked about programming systems when the car is in motion,” he said.

One poll respondent summed up the feeling of the majority: Steve Bowden, company secretary at AW Champion, said: “While it would be wrong to suggest that sat-navs could never be a distraction, they surely represent much less of a danger than map reading or drivers searching for roads and landmarks?”

Nevertheless, 30% – or 75 – of the 244 respondents, who ranged from fleet and safety managers to company directors and chairmen, said they believed satellite navigation was a dangerous driver distraction.

Several of these were road safety professionals.

Richard Hill, road safety compliance manager at VolkerRail, was one of them: “Any equipment which takes the driver’s eye off the road is a distraction,” he said.

“Defensive driving is all about observation as you can see hazards before they unfold thus eliminating the risk of collision.”

Autoproactive proprietor Steve Johnson added: “Sat-navs just make too many mistakes to follow them blindly.

"A responsible driver will always have done some journey planning ahead and not only have sense of direction, but also impending road conditions.”

See the December 17 issue of Fleet News for more reader views on this decisive topic.