to think there should be a Satnav that allows you to choose the easiest, safest route (rather than just the quickest)

[ArtistBaptist]

Particularly for new or learner drivers?
This would help them to avoid the really narrow, single lane roads which might require reversing etc.

Maybe such a Satnav does already exists?

I suppose you'd need to do a bit of research yourself before selecting from the routes the sat nav gives as options. They can only do so much of the thinking for you.

Does no-one else actually check their route before they go?

If it's a long or unfamiliar trip I'll generally give it a once over before I leave to make sure it's not doing anything stupid, and if it does route me through a tiny road or a residential area when theres a perfectly good A-road nearby then I'll add a waypoint on the A-road and see what it does to the time.

Yes can’t you just look at the route beforehand? And see whether it’s taking you on main roads or not?

On Waze there’s an option to avoid unpaved roads.

When my son was living in South London Google Maps was determined to save me 6 whole minutes by making me drive right past Buckingham palace, and would constantly try and redirect me that way, rather than let me have a bit longer on the motorway. In the end I had to trick it with a different address just to bypass.

Surely our robot overloads should know by now that humans do not want that stress 😬

Not that easy as the suggested route is often in coloured/bold so you can't realistically see the actual road underneath, i.e. how wide it is, and often you can't even see the road number, so can't tell if it's the A1, the A101 or the B1234 and even then, it's not always a good/accurate indicator of the quality (width/straightness nor hazards) of the road.

I've started to set the sat nav to "town name" instead of a particular street or post code as I've found it tends to give you the "main" road to the centre of the town rather than side/narrow roads to the outskirts, and then once I'm at the outskirts, I'll pull over and then put in the exact post code - seems to help stop the narrow/country road options when there's a major road available.

Though I have also started reverted back to reading road sign directional signs which are far more likely to give you the "best" main road and remain good for getting to your general direction in the easiest way rather than quickest. Just have the satnav in the background as that's good for spotting congestion/accidents etc far in advance.

Agreed. If you don't like what the internet is offering then engage your own brain instead.

Our satnav has a world of preference settings. We avoid toll roads, prefer motorways and A roads, and single track roads only for final mile. If you dig about in the menus, you may well find what you want. Alternatively I always used to follow the “signs to” method until nearly there.

I've often said a satnav needs a setting for 'the route I'd take if I lived here and knew where I was going'!

So infuriating when it's sending you down every random track in creation just because it's a 60mph rd and it thinks you'll get there faster. When in reality it's just national speed limit and you can't safely go over 30 and will need to reverse 15 times in 400yds.

I do love setting it to 'shortest' in rural France though and bimbling about the countryside.

Yes I agree. I’ve ended up in very lonely country single track roads before. I want A roads where possible

Let me guess... you're on the young side, not been driving that long, you've never been in someone else's shoesand you've never been involved in a motoring accident that was not your fault? Because if you had, you wouldn't make such a crass comment.

Yep - I agree. Often Google maps route isn't quicker either because many country lanes you can't drive national speed limit on as it suggests because it's not safe.

I think ABRP ( a better route planner ) has this facility - you add specific vehicles to it and the routes will take into account the dimensions of your vehicle.

The sat navs are increasing traffic on tiny roads that were not designed for it, would usually just have very local cars and now get additional people who have been sent there by the robot overlords. Various signs I've seen saying "if your satnav tries to send you down here, ignore it". A bit of common sense needs to be programmed in.

I’d love a Satnav that avoided single track roads - is it fitted to the car or standalone please?

If any satnav designers are reading, I’d also like an option that would allow the ability to understand whether you’re being sent through a housing estate instead of on the motorway because it’s going to save you 3 seconds (assuming you don’t have to back up or get stuck at the traffic lights) or because there’s a 20 minute hold up on the main route.

I want one with Alan Rickman's voice...😍

I’d like a satnav where I could set a preferred route, for places I go every once in a while.
i went somewhere recently that I’d not been in 6-8 weeks, satnav sent me through the single lane tracks between fields on the way there (and I was lucky not to encounter a tractor). On the way home an hour later it sent me a perfectly sensible route on the A road. The single lane roads are no quicker in reality as they might be a 60 limit but you can’t go 60mph.
The next time I have to go there I’ll be making sure it’s the A road way.

Are you talking about built-in navigation systems, portable units or Carplay/Android Auto OP?

There are Sat navs for lorries etc

YANBU. The other issue is that these roads aren't designed for a significant amount of traffic so you don't need many extra vehicles on them to be completely gridlocked because everyone is trying to squeeze past, needing to reverse etc. Also not great in the dark.

I go out into the countryside a lot and the Peak District is especially bad for this. I've stated looking at a paper map and also making a note of the major towns/villages on the route so I can navigate by road signs where possible.

Fellow towing people - Tom Tom Go Expert has an offer on subscriptions at the minute, the app integrates with CarPlay and Android Auto. It’s £60 for 12 months.
It has a lot of preference options as well as routing based on height/weight/length to avoid low bridges and unsuitable roads.
I don’t work for them btw!

I don't think sat navs assume you can drive at the NSL on minor roads, they use phone data to measure how long it takes people to travel each section and then adds it up to get journey times.

However, I don't want to unintentionally turn residential streets and other minor roads not designed for heavy traffic into rat runs to shorten my journey by a minute or two, so don't thank my sat nav from trying to make me do this because it's not very well designed. It's a lot easier to drive along a main road with minimal turns than it is to be constantly going left, right, across junctions etc.

I would like a ‘main lane’ function. In rural areas there’s generally a lane which is mostly wide enough to pass, or has plenty of passing places. This is what the locals use for most of their journey, turning off onto the tiny lanes as necessary for the final few miles.

The sat nav seems to choose the tiniest, steepest lanes with fewest passing places. Which saves a few miles but is a lot slower.

Yes! It's not to do with driving ability but to do with the most sensible route that's suitable to take lots of traffic. I do feel for people who live or work in rural parts of holiday destinations such as Cornwall or Devon during the summer months. Having to stop their tractor every few mins so cars can reverse down single track lanes away from you. The tracks are often really only suitable for local traffic and not cars cutting through on their way to elsewhere.

Not all single track lanes need to be or can be avoided but I'd much rather add several mins to journey time than clogging up unsuitable roads. When away now I will always manually look at routes suggested now and add stops along the way that avoid such roads if the route seems ridiculous. Often you end up having to add multiple stops in though as the sat navs are determined to take the more 'direct' route.

I think 'easy' and 'safest' are quite subjective. Some people would be confident driving on a single track road with passing places but get stressed about roundabouts and big junctions, for example. I think it depends a lot on what someone's most used to.

I certainly think it's a good idea to be able to filter routes in more specific ways, though, eg 'avoid motorways' or 'bypass town centres' or 'avoid single-track' or something like that.

Yes! I love Waze but have learned it is very good at thinking you will actually be able to drive at the national speed limit on country lanes - including single lane roads - and so sends you off on a route which is theoretically four minutes faster but, by the time you’ve actually driven at a safe speed and then got stuck behind a cyclist and reversed umpteen times and had to inch past a couple of cars, it takes much longer and is infinitely more stressful. Earlier this year, my husband and I had gone separately to an event involving the DC. It was a wet, windy miserable evening. I left to come home 20 mins earlier than he did but still got home much later as he’d stuck to the usual route (motorway & A road) whereas I’d stupidly followed the “traffic building” alternative route only to almost be in tears about half way home as I was having such a miserable time of it. I was constantly had people who were no doubt locals to these particular roads up my backside as they knew the roads and then didn’t know the etiquette on who should reverse when you met as I hadn’t spotted the passing spaces. I was so far along these roads that my choice was either to continue or retrace my steps but, as soon as I could, I abandoned it and joined the usual route so had to then deal with the congestion on that anyway! Since then, I have learned to always look at the route rather than blindly follow it