Call for SatNav changes to aid HGVs avoid unsuitable rural roads

By Sean O’Riordan

The Department of Transport could be asked to get major SatNav suppliers to alter the way they input information for HGVs and buses so they don’t travel on routes unsuitable for large vehicles.

The Bandon/Kinsale municipal district has written to Garmin, Tom Tom, and other providers asking that they provide drivers of large vehicles with routes which avoid narrow rural roads, after a number of large vehicles got stuck in the Kinsale area during the summer. Picture: Denis Scannell

Cork County Council is expected to write to the department after discussing a formal motion which is to be put before it shortly by members of a municipal district council.

The Bandon/Kinsale municipal district recently took it upon itself to write to Garmin, Tom Tom, and other providers asking that, where possible, they provide drivers of large vehicles with routes which avoid narrow rural roads.

The move came after a number of large vehicles got stuck in the Kinsale area during the summer.

Similar reports of heavy goods vehicles being directed down ‘boreens’ were also made in other areas of the county.

Cllr Kevin Murphy proposed at the municipal meeting that a motion be sent forward from it to the full council asking the Department of Transport to get involved.

Some of the SatNav operators wrote back to the municipal district saying that they are prepared to alter their information if the county council sends them a list of roads which are unsuitable for such traffic.

A Garmin spokesman said it would normally advise on roads which have legally restricted height/weight limits.

However, he accepts that there may be cases where this information is not supplied and asked the council to alert it if it comes across any such cases.

However, in the case of roads which are narrow but yet don’t have these legal restriction signs, Garmin advises that it can input them if the county council provides it with a list.

A TomTom spokesman said its “maps are set up so that if a driver is driving a large vehicle they can enter the dimensions of the vehicle so that the device will show them which roads are not suitable”.

He said that it may be the case that some drivers are not entering the correct dimensions.

However, he conceded there could be a problem with their maps and this could be corrected if the local authority supplies them with information.

A Google Maps spokesman said its system doesn’t recognise the type of vehicle a user might be driving.

“So, it is not possible to figure out what is a small car versus a large truck in this context.

“Therefore, rerouting on this basis is not possible,” a company spokesman said.

Mr Murphy said it is vital “to keep the pressure on them” (SatNav providers) to alter their systems.

He noted that it is a county and countrywide problem and any solution to it would need the backing of a full council meeting in County Hall.

Mr Murphy, with the support of his municipal district colleagues, is to lodge a formal motion at the council’s next meeting at which he will ask for the department’s support in lobbying SatNav operators.