(1888PressRelease)
June 27, 2007 - Approximately one in every hundred UK motorists are relying on a map from the first half of the 20th century in order to get them to their destinations, it has been revealed.
According to research from automotive accessories provider Trafficmaster, 138,000 drivers are still using road maps that predate 1950 in spite of the fact that they were published before the creation of the UK's first motorway.
Meanwhile, the study also indicates that 364,000 people are reliant upon road maps that were drawn up before 1990, while five million people trust route planners that were created before the turn of the millennium.
Commenting on the findings, Philip Hale, spokesman at Trafficmaster, has highlighted the potential problems inherent in using older road maps.
"We are all driving further than ever before and on regularly congested roads so, to find the best route, you need to know all your options," he explained.
"Outdated maps are at best unhelpful and at worst distracting and dangerous to follow."
To highlight the potential for confusion, the company has also compiled a list of the major road improvements that have been created since 2000, which motorists relying on elderly maps may be unaware of.
Among the projects that have recently been completed, motorists may be interested to know that a new section of the M77 was built in Scotland in 2005, which replaced the old A77.
Moreover, new junctions were added to the M25 in 2005, while the M6 toll road was completed in 2003 in a bid to ease congestion around the West Midlands.
Drivers who would like to receive more up-to-date information about the UK's road network may wish to consider buying a satellite navigation (sat nav) system.
Indeed, the Trafficmaster survey has revealed that 21 per cent of motorists now own the route-finding devices, which offer more recent information than elderly road maps.
Mr Hale has argued that it is important to be up to date with the latest transport developments when planning a journey.
"Road improvements and changes are happening all the time and you could just find problems rather than your destination if you rely on an outdated map," he said.
"You need to make sure you have the right tool for the job."
In related news, motorists who already own a sat nav device may be interested to hear that police officers in the West Midlands have been clamping down on thieves who target the items.
According to icCoventry, several dummy cars that have valuables such as sat navs on show are being positioned in crime-ridden parts of Coventry over the coming weeks.
These vehicles are subjected to 24-hour surveillance, with police officers intending to make arrests if any opportunist thieves are spotted trying to steal the items within.
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