Google Maps brings heavy lorries on to unsuitable Kildare road

Google Maps technology is directing the drivers of heavy goods vehicles onto a country road on the outskirts of Ballymore Eustace.

Local councillor Evie Sammon said HGVs should be banned from the route (which connects Ballymore Eustace with the N81, a much busier road which runs from Tallaght and through Blessington, Hollywood and Baltinglass.)

At a Naas Municipal District committee meeting, she asked Kildare County Council to bring in an “urgent heavy goods vehicle (HGV) ban” on the road.

She is also asking KCC to provide traffic calming measures as well as a four-way stop, at a nearby crossroads “to address ongoing road safety risks.”

Cllr Sammon said: "Ditches are being taken out of it.”

KCC official Mark McLoughlin pointed out that Google Maps is a third party independent company and the technology used will advise drivers to use certain routes and this, he added, is “challenging” for the council.