Sat nav ... useful, but could it prove deadly?NEARLY half of us own one, around three million are sold each year - but satellite navigation systems should be used with extreme caution.
For the seemingly handy device in your car could be a killer.
On Wednesday The Sun told the tragic story of motorist Rachel Edwards who was forced to choose between saving the life of her two-year-old daughter or son aged 16.
Rachel's Citroen Xsara crashed into a 15ft wide drainage ditch near Mablethorpe, Lincs.
An inquest heard her sat nav had guided her on to a series of increasingly minor roads - including a dead end - before the tragedy.
Son Jack was trapped inside and drowned while pregnant Rachel struggled to free little Isabella.
At the inquest coroner Paul Smith said: "It is questionable for any system to divert traffic away from an arterial route on to a B road then a C road which is little more than a farm track."
While it had the most dire of consequences Rachel's case is not an isolated incident.
Sat navs frequently send motorists the wrong direction. Even so, they are more popular than ever, with 49 per cent of Brits owning one.
These days it doesn't cost a fortune to have one in your car.
Entry level devices cost just ?50 and a free sat nav iPhone app by firm Skobbler was downloaded more than 70,000 times in the first few weeks of its launch last year.
Experts believe people are losing vital map-reading skills because they have become so dependent on technology.
Despite that, many people have their own navigation aid horror stories.
So before you make your next journey take a look at these sat nav nightmares.
Last year 17-year-old Natasha Paton was killed when a coach carrying 39 school kids home from Alton Towers crashed in a blizzard in Lanarkshire.
It is believed the driver took a longer route and an arguably more dangerous road unsuitable for a bus because of instructions from his sat nav.
Tragic ... Lanarkshire busAriana Bardhaj, four, from Blackpool, was killed last year when her learner driver dad took an illegal right turn into oncoming traffic.
He had been incorrectly instructed to do this by his sat nav on the A6 near Bolton, Greater Manchester.
Fatal error ... Ariana's dad took wrong turn after instruction from his sat navPromising sportswoman Rhiannon Lawrence from Plymouth, Devon, nearly died in a pile-up involving a lorry after she did a U-turn when the sat nav misdirected her.
The international fencer was taken off at the wrong junction on the A30 at Journey's End, near Truro, Cornwall, last year.
She was in a coma for 17 days but thankfully recovered.
Floody brilliant ... rescue after van took a very wrong turnIn 2008 four members of a theatre company had to be rescued from the roof of their pink Mercedes van after their sat nav directed them through a flooded river in Gillingham, Dorset.
The fire and rescue service used ladders to help down the stricken group who were in danger of being swept away by the torrent.
Slack nav ... warning on Lincolnshire roadThree pensioners were stranded for four hours last year after the private ambulance they were travelling in crashed thanks to the sat nav.
The device instructed the driver down back roads completely unsuitable for the freezing conditions.
The vehicle slid on ice and crashed into a ditch near Duloe, Cornwall.
Rescue services were unable to reach the stranded pensioners for four hours as the country lanes were impassable.
Wreck ... four-year-old Ariana Bardhaj was killed in smash--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why sat nav can lead to your death | The Sun |Features
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