Villages turn away satnav drivers

Road too small to go down

22 February 2007 15:54 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Villagers of Exton near Winchester in Hampshire have taken to re-directing drivers away from their village because of incorrect satnav directions.

The village has put bright yellow signs up on the road leading to their village after lorries repeatedly got stuck in a narrow lane hardly wide enough for one car.

Council traffic engineer Neville Crisp said: "I haven't heard of any other signs like this. The road is just not suitable for wide vehicles. Drivers of these vehicles are just blindly following their satnav systems".

The Department for Transport said: "As far as we are aware, these appear to be the first signs in England telling drivers to ignore satnavs".

Resident Brian Thorpe-Tracey told the London Metro newspaper: "The problem mushroomed overnight with the advent of satnav".

"The lane is 6ft wide at its narrowest point. Vehicles are getting stuck and having to reverse back up, damaging the wall and fence. When I ask drivers why they are using the lane they say they are just following satnav."

Earlier this month the RAC announced it has begun offering premium discounts for motorists who use satellite navigation equipment.

According to the breakdown recovery service, using satnav makes drivers less likely to crash. “It means you don’t have to constantly look at road names, warning signs and so on”, said an RAC spokesperson. “It makes you a lower risk.”
However a Which? survey at the weekend found that 26% of drivers who used satnav had got lost doing so.

Full tags

Car And GPS, GPS