Sat-nav standards under scrutiny
- Department for Transport to set guidelines
- Sat-nav makers who comply will get kitemark
- Wrongly directed lorries cause £10m of damage
The Department for Transport will issue kitemark approval to satellite-navigation makers who meet stringent criteria to improve the quality of their directions.
The DfT is acting after receiving complaints from misdirected motorists, particularly from lorry drivers sent down narrow country lanes.
This month, Network Rail has released figures showing that sat-nav errors are responsible for 2000 incidents of lorries hitting railway bridges each year, which leads to £10 million of damage and 5000 hours of delays.
Now the DfT is drawing up a list of measures to encourage sat-nav makers to improve their directions, including encouraging them to supply alternative routes according to the type of vehicle being driven.
Sat-nav makers who meet the criteria will be awarded the DfT's kitemark, which it hopes will become recognised as assign of quality by buyers.
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