As many as 11 million British motorists are unable to read a basic road map, according to a survey released Monday.

The poll revealed over three quarters of British drivers were unable to identify the motorway map symbol, while only one percent of motorists would pass the Cub Scout Map Reader test.

"It's pretty embarrassing the majority of Cub Scouts have better map-reading skills than the majority of the adult population," said Colin Batabyal, head of underwriting and business development at eSure, which carried out the survey.

Sixteen percent of British drivers have become so heavily reliant on satellite navigation systems that they have given up keeping a map in their car.

"It's time for motorists to take a refresher in map-reading skills," said Scott Sinclair of national mapping agency Ordnance Survey. "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," added Sinclair.

The survey -- based on a poll of 1,000 UK drivers -- estimated Britons' poor map-reading skills resulted in 36 billion wasted miles being driven each year.
译文：

据本周一公布的一项调查，英国多达1100万的司机不会看简单的公路地图。

该调查发现，英国超过四分之三的司机不会辨认公路地图图标，仅有1%的司机能通过“幼童军认图测试”。

开展此项调查的eSure公司的保险和业务开发部经理柯林•巴塔布耶尔说：“大多数幼童军（译者注：参加童子军野外生存训练的八岁至十二岁的儿童）的认图能力比大多数成年人都要好，这实在令人尴尬。”

16%的英国司机严重依赖全球定位系统，所以他们的车里都没备地图。

英国国家陆地测量局的斯科特•辛克莱说：“司机们应该在看地图技能方面补补课了。高科技固然好，但纸制地图不会出现突然没电的状况，（是最可靠的。）”

辛克莱说：“没有哪个正儿八经的登山者会完全依靠GPS设备来识别方向，以防出现没电或失去信号的状况，这对于开车的人来说应该是一样的。”

该项对1000名英国司机的调查发现，英国人看地图能力太差造成司机们每年开了360亿英里的冤枉路。