Sat nav users warned to update devices after fatal Milton Keynes crash
Users of Google, Apple and TomTom sat navs have been warned to ensure their devices are up to date after the crash.
Tech companies are updating their navigation applications after a crash which caused two deaths was caused by faulty directions from sat nav systems.
Users of Google, Apple and TomTom devices have been warned to ensure devices are up to date after the crash, which saw Tracey Haybittle, 58, and Amal Mohamed Ahmed, 38, die in a head-on collision after Ahmed drove the wrong way down a slip road.
Sat nav applications were offering verbal commands which were “likely to confuse drivers”, the Prevention of Future Deaths report found - but after the coroner wrote to Google. Apple and TomTom, the tech companies have agreed to update the verbal commands.
Why was sat-nav blamed?
The accident in November 2023 saw Ahmed drive down the slip road near Little Brickhill junction, a few miles south of Milton Keynes, while “following audio directions”.
Police attending the crash saw "perform exactly the same manoeuvre as Ms Ahmed and attempt to travel down the slip road in the wrong direction" .
Even after National Highways narrowed the mouth of the slip road and put up a sign telling drivers not to use sat-nav, drivers were still attempting to drive the wrong way down the slip road, the coroner reported.
What have tech companies done?
Apple, Google and TomTom have all updated their voice guidance to make it easier to understand, the companies told the BBC.
A spokesperson from Apple said that the company is updating voice guidance for drivers in the area, with motorists instructed to "continue straight at the overpass”.
An Apple spokesperson said, "We trust that the steps we are taking will be helpful to try to avoid any future such tragic events."
Google said that it was updating its guidance to improve timing of the audio, saying: "This will involve an amended audio prompt as a driver approaches a junction where they would cross an overpass - 'after the overpass, turn right'.
TomTom advised users to update their systems (with some TomTom systems, this has to be done manually).
TomTom has updated its system to time the verbal commands closer to the exit, and after the slip road.
How often do sat navs cause accidents?
Last year, a National Highways report linked sat-navs to a 13% rise in the number of people driving the wrong way down motorways.
Motorists ‘blindly’ following sat navs saw 872 incidents between January and June 2023.
AA president Edmund King said at the time, “The increase in the number of vehicles being driven in the wrong direction on motorways is frightening and can be fatal.
“Generally, the slip road layout and signage are designed to ensure joining the motorway in the right direction is intuitive.
“However, sometimes drivers follow Sat Nav directions without thinking, for example, to ‘take the third exit’, without actually checking the signage, and therefore they can make mistakes.”
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