Air carrier Captain reported the new coded taxi routes at DEN are dangerous as there are no diagrams of the taxi routes shown on the procedure. The Captain also stated that having to interpret the information while taxiing equated to distracted driving and added to the danger.
Synopsis
Air carrier Captain reported the new coded taxi routes at DEN are dangerous as there are no diagrams of the taxi routes shown on the procedure. The Captain also stated that having to interpret the information while taxiing equated to distracted driving and added to the danger.
Narrative
The purpose of this report is to advise the Company of the dangerous nature of the coded taxi route procedures at Denver International Airport. We were flying from ZZZ to DEN and had looked at the weather packet and noticed the information on the cover about the issues that have been going on in DEN with the coded taxiway program. We looked at the Jeppesen 10-6 page and thought that it was completely inadequate. It would require the Captain to do the equivalent of distracted driving as they are taxiing the aircraft. There are no diagrams of the taxi routes included in the coded taxiway program. In order to follow the taxi route; you must sift through every paragraph for multiple points of information while taxiing. A picture is worth 1;000 words. All other coded taxiway programs come with associated diagrams that are easy to follow. There have been multiple wrong turns made on these coded taxiway routes and it is just plain unsafe. Another additive condition is that most of our captains must put on their reading glasses before they stand a chance of being able to read the 10-6 page. I have not and will not participate in the coded taxiway program in DEN until this is addressed. I would advise Company to decline this program until these issues are fixed. When you take the time to truly study the 10-6 page it is very hard to decipher where you are going from; and where you are going to; and which one of these coded taxi routes you may receive as a clearance at any given time.Refuse the use of coded taxiway programs until charted routing - a map - is available for each coded taxi route.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.