Sat Nav sends crane down wrong road

A ROAD collapsed and a crane toppled over after a Sat Nav sent its driver down a small rural road in Dunmanway.

Cllr Declan Hurley (Ind) said it was a miracle that the man ‘escaped with his life’ after the Kilbarry Road buckled under the weight of the 70-tonne crane at 6am on Monday, March 25th.

The local councillor raised the issue at a meeting of the West Cork Municipal District in Schull on Monday when he complained that the driver was ‘wrongly directed down a narrow road that was not designed for heavy or large vehicles.’ 

He said Kilbarry Road – which some motorists use to go from Dunmanway town centre to Bantry – rolled on its side into a large drain and it took two another two cranes three days to back-fill the road with enough earth to support the recovery operation.

‘Thankfully nobody was injured,’ said Cllr Hurley, ‘but it must have been traumatic for the driver.’ He said an incident, like this, should never have happened and he called on the Council to erect a sign warning articulated truck drivers not to use this road because he had also seen trucks reversing a mile or two down the road at night.

Cllr Mary Hegarty (FG) said the road is ‘fine for cars but not for trucks’ and she complained that Sat Nav is sending people off down very narrow and unsuitable routes.

Cllr John O’Sullivan (FG) suggested that the Municipal Officer, Justin England, should write to all of the Sat Nav companies telling them they had a duty to ‘know the roads they are recommending.

‘The Sat Nav providers have created a business and they have a duty to their customers. Corporate affairs should also write to them,’ he added, ‘so we have a record of what is happening.’

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