Sat-nav failing logistics

The Freight Transport Association is calling for suppliers to produce satellite navigation systems which better suit commercial vehicles during freight operations. Mapping software customarily associated with sat-nav units is more compatible with cars and small lorries; enabling them to navigate the selected routes legally, safely and with minimum convenience to the local community and other road users. Yet these routes are proving inappropriate for larger vehicles.
It has identified a list of data items that its members say are necessary and useful additions to a standard sat-nav system. These include:
* Vehicle width restrictions
* Vehicle height restrictions
* Vehicle length restrictions
* HGV restrictions (pedestrianised areas and local lorry bans)
* Kerbside loading and unloading restrictions
* Time of day (relating to restrictions)
* Recommended lorry routes
* Ability to specify trunk roads or motorways
* Adequate predictability of possible access problems in time to allow diversionary action by drivers
* Location of lorry parks and driver facilities
* Location of public weighbridges
Policy director James Hookham said: “There are too many stories of lorries getting stuck or using inappropriate roads because of sat-nav systems, and there is a lot more suppliers can do to make their systems more useful to the commercial vehicle driver. However, we must never forget that ultimately, whether in a lorry or a car, the driver should not just rely on instructions from his sat-nav, but must use his own common sense. Blindly following the advice of an inanimate computer is not always the best policy.”