Some of it might depend whether you can stop to read a map and figure an alternative route or if you just see the road closed matrix and have to use mental information or the sat nav to get around it.
I have noticed the Tomtom I use gives alternative routes to get around traffic with the potential time saved, but give it a few minutes, that time saved drops as everyone follow their Tomtom and jams it up.
Experience defo wins out, but that takes time.
I use the sat nav as a sat nav maybe once a year, but i use it all day every day on the ‘‘traffic’’ screen.
When you learn of a road closure or traffic jam due to accident you have to think laterally, you know very well the majority of people in lorries vans and cars are going to blindly follow the alternative the sat nav brings up, and seeing as the alternative is going to be either single lane with junctions or dual with junctions at best its blindingly obvious those alternatives are going to jam solid in next to no time.
It’s not just the road you’re on either, and thats part of the reason i use traffic screen only without punching in a destination, if other roads in the vicinity or even parallel roads miles away are jammed, then you have to think where the sheep’s satnavs will have diverted them, could it be on your route? will there be a junction ahead where that diverted flock will take priority coming from the right say at a roundabout so there’s going to be a massive tailback that you need to avoid?
So, just as Rob did you’ve got to get the old thinking cap on and take the route that isn’t as obvious.
Thing is this is ongoing, you should always have potential alternatives in mind and be looking many miles ahead on whatever tech you have.