Mio Technology, Europe’s number 3 vendor of GPS devices, announces today its support for the Director General of Transport’s (DGT’s) advice to consumers on the safe use of GPS devices.

During the launch of the Road Safety Plan for Galicia, 25th January, the DGT announced that he was considering taking stronger measures on the use of GPS following a Mapfre report that drivers are distracted by GPS usage.

”We take our customer’s safety extremely seriously at Mio Technology. Our research and development teams are working continuously to produce devices that have a minimum impact on the concentration levels of drivers” said Paul Notteboom, President Mio Technology Europe. “Furthermore, since May 2006, all of our devices come with the so-called “Safe mode” which disables the touch screen of the device while the vehicle is in motion – which is exactly the recommendation of DGT.”

”We also believe as a key player in the industry we have a responsibility to educate the public on the safe use of our products.  For that reason, we have had the safe use guidelines published on our website since mid-2006.  The results of the Mapfre study and the DGT’s recommendation represent a common sense approach to GPS usage and we advise all our customers to follow the guidelines.”