Sunday, April 25 2010
It is estimated that presently there is in the neighbourhood of 14 million van drivers in the United Kingdom who depend on satellite navigation systems. During 2009, Sat Nav systems were thought to be the cause of an estimated 300,000 vehicle crashes in Britain, and another 1.5 million confessed that they made abrupt changes in directions when following the directions of their Sat Nav system.
Van insurance comparison site from The Van Insurer
A poll of 1,200 van drivers that was conducted by Swinton, a UK van retailer, showed that one in five of those surveyed had moments of hesitation while driving due to the instructions from their satellite navigation system. It was also found that one in sixty stated that their Sat Nav system had either been the cause of a crash or had almost been the cause of a crash.
Phil Moss, who is the Commercial Vehicle manager over at Swinton had some things to say about van drivers and their satellite navigation systems. He stated that they were seeing an increasing amount of van drivers reporting insurance claims for damages to their vans that occurred after they followed the directions given by their Sat Nav systems that took them down rough roads. In light of this, Phil encouraged all commercial vehicle drivers to use discretion when coming upon a road that may not be fit to drive upon.