More people are driving the wrong way down motorways.

The news comes 12 months on from headlines about similar extraordinary rises in the numbers.

Blaming sat navs appears to be the most common excuse.

Who’s in control?

Some people driving the wrong way down motorways are criminals trying to evade police.

However, the real concern is the increasing problem of drivers blindly following sat nav instructions without qualifying these with what they are actually seeing out of the windscreen.

With people unquestioningly following their sat navs, the prospect of fully autonomous transport solutions with built-in safety would be a leap forward, as many drivers are effectively acting like automatons but without the safety tripos built in.

The slip road

An investigation has found that there has been a “deadly” rise in reports of people driving the wrong way down England’s motorways in the last year.

According to the AA, there has been a 15% increase in incidents – with some of them down to drivers “blindly” following their sat navs.

Figures obtained by the PA news agency from National Highways show 988 incidents involving “oncoming vehicles” were reported on England’s motorways in the year to November 17.

That is up from 858 in the previous 12 months, averaging 19 each week.

Deadly turns

Five people died in a crash involving a wrong-way driver on the M6 near Tebay Services, Cumbria, on 15 October.

Earlier this year, two people were killed, and four were seriously injured when a stolen van was driven the wrong way on the M25 in Hertfordshire in an attempt to evade the police.

Barancan Nurcin, then 22, was given an 18-year prison sentence at St Albans Crown Court.

“The increase in the number of vehicles being driven in the wrong direction on motorways is frightening,” said AA president Edmund King.

“The consequences of wrong-way driving can be devastating and deadly.”

While some incidents have involved criminals trying to evade the police, many others blamed their sat navs.

Mr King believes that when “genuine mistakes have been made, there should be a full review of signage and road layout to ensure they are intuitive.”

Drivers who see a vehicle travelling in the wrong direction are urged to contact 999 if it is safe to do so, or use a motorway SOS phone to alert the authorities.