Following the announcement of new regulations which will force satnav companies to put road closures and parking spaces on their maps, a Bolton driving guru has given his verdict.
The new rules were announced earlier this month to make all Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) digital.
Other valuable data such as the location of parking spaces has also been mooted to included on satnav systems.
The Bolton News spoke to chairman of local group Bolton Advanced Motorists, Roy Sammons, about the new measures.
He said: "I don't know how they will do that. They would have to pick up all TROs, all council road closures. Currently, they don't do anything like that.
"Google for example sees which phones are sitting still and tells you where queues are.
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"To me, it is a massive task, if all satnav people can get their act together then yes, it should be better. However, if all it does is direct people down the same street.
"A while ago they changed the algorithms to route through main roads, not housing estates, so people were not inundated on roads which are unsuitable to get round a queue."
He added: "I think it will have to be a wait and see. Is it feasible? Only time will tell. Every single council in the country getting all their traffic regulation orders, there are hundreds of them, hundredsin Bolton every week.
"The other thing is there must be a cost to all of this, to councils and to satnav people, will they make it a chargeable service in future because it is costing so much to maintain? Because it is all free at the moment."
Bolton Advanced Motorists is putting on a new Advanced Driver Course in February.
A free informational session will be held at Lostock Parish Centre at 7pm on January 31.
To learn more about the group, visit: https://www.iamroadsmart.com/groups/boltonam
On parking, Roy said: "That is a novel one to me. It is only the big car parks in Bolton that have any indication of empty car parks.
"I can't imagine how it is going to work if meant to be done in real time.
"We will have to reserve judgement and see what more happens."
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