I recently purchased a new Mercedes with a gps. In my opinion, the device is a serious safety hazard and will cause countless accidents in its present state. For example, when I was at the zoo on conn. Ave. In D.C. and programmed the device to get to reagan national, it insisted on taking conn. Ave. Downtown and cutting across to 14th St. I elected to take rock creek parkway to the memorial bridge and then down rt. 110. Within a quarter of a mile after entering rock creek, the device was telling me to make a left. Absent an atv, this illegal turn could not be performed. Additionally, where it wanted me to go was an on-ramp (with a do not enter sign) for traffic traveling in the opposite direction. A little later it suggested a right turn into a steep embankment. Finally, as I was passing the kennedy center it suggested a left turn into it. Only when I reached the memorial bridge did it decide to recalculate the route. The problem, as I see it, is that a fair percentage of drivers will blindly follow the verbal instructions with serious consequences. Incidentally, talking with the salesman about this problem, he told me that they all ready had a woman drive into a lake. My verbalization of this problem is totally inadequate therefore I invite one or more of your staffers in D.C. for a test ride.

- Arlington, VA, USA