DRIVERS in Lancashire are being warned that their satellite navigation systems could cause serious accidents.

Motorists who rely on their sat-navs risk getting stuck down unsuitable roads, making dangerous manoeuvres, and even being involved in accidents due to distraction.

The warning comes after an RAC Foundation study found that the North West is the worst region in the country for commuter casualties.

The region was found to be worst for collision rate per head of population, has above average travel to work times and above average UK CO2 emissions per head of population.

Liz Dainton who conducted the research for the RAC Foundation said: "Satellite navigation systems can be useful in saving money, time and reducing pollution, but the flip side is that if people blindly follow them, they could end up in driving into a walls and such by making risky, unsuitable moves.

"When using a sat-nav, people need to use their common sense and not take everything the machine is telling them as read."

PC Pete Sculphur, of the road policing unit, said that it was not possible to trace whether accidents were caused by in-car technology.

But he said he believed many people were too embarassed to admit crashing because of their sat nav. He said: "Sat-navs are like radios - when you hear something you find interesting, you look at it.

"But if they are positioned right and you allow the correct distance between your car and the one in front, they should cause you no problems.

"To me there's nothing wrong with a map or even asking people for directions.

"You might not get there as quickly though, and that seems a big issue in the fast-paced society we're living in."

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said that a well used sat-nav can help drivers plan routes and prevent drivers from making last minute lane changes or hesitating because they are not sure of the directions.

However a badly used sat-nav could cause a distraction and increase the risk of an accident.

Consumer magazine Which? has said too many sat-nav systems are 'fallible and unreliable'.

They say a sat-nav system is 'not a magic wand' to avoid queues completely.

Spokesman for sat nav manufacturer Garmin, Ted Gartner, insisted their sat-nav devices are accurate but admitted that glitches may exist in the electronic maps programmed into each unit.

He said: "No navigation system is perfect and GPS is no substitute for common sense. It could be that a road is wrongly coded.

"If there are errors in the data, users can go to the Garmin website and submit an error report."