Letter to Sundar Pichai, Google CEO - Schumer launches major push to prevent bridge strikes that have plagued Westchester county for decades; senator calls on leading GPS developers to integrate data warning commercial vehicle drivers of road restrictions, promote driver safety & decrease traffic

Letter

Dear Mr. Pichai:

In recent years, many drivers have shifted from using standalone global position system (GPS) units to smartphone-based navigation applications like Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze. These services offer valuable directions for passenger traffic but do not currently make information about national road restrictions like those on height, weight, or hazardous materials available to users. As a result, commercial vehicle operators that rely on these applications are often directed to enter restricted roadways, which can cause accidents that adversely impact traffic patterns, inflict damage to roadways and overpasses, and even result in fatalities. We write today to urge Google to help solve these safety issues by providing clear and timely notification to commercial vehicle drivers about restrictions in their route.

As more commercial vehicle drivers use these applications, we can expect accidents and damage to roadways to increase, unless a solution is found. For example, the Hutchinson River and Merritt Parkways in Connecticut and New York provide passenger vehicle drivers with an alternative to congested interstates. The parkways prohibit travel by commercial vehicles because of low overpass clearances along the road. Unfortunately, commercial vehicles frequently travel on the parkways and strike their bridges. In fact, oversized vehicles struck the King Street Bridge on the border of Greenwich, Connecticut and Rye Brook, New York, nearly 150 times in the last decade. Even when drivers recognize their mistake and stop prior to striking a bridge, traffic delays and fatalities occur. In 2017, a man died after rear-ending a truck that stopped short of the Stanwich Road Bridge in Greenwich, Connecticut. Often, commercial vehicle accidents shut down the parkways. When this happens, commuters and travelers using the parkways face needless delays -- negating the parkways' intended purpose. Moreover, these accidents pose safety risks to all those traveling on the parkways.

Similar crashes are common in other areas of the country as well. In fact, reports indicate several accidents a year on the James Jackson Storrow Memorial Drive in Boston, Massachusetts. Passenger vehicle drivers have become accustomed to using your application and turn to it when they rent commercial vehicles. This has proved especially problematic when college students unfamiliar with the City of Boston rent moving trucks each September and are directed to Storrow Drive by their smartphone without a warning about its height restrictions. These commercial-sized vehicles are unable to clear the overpasses on the route and have repeatedly interfered with local traffic. It is critical we work to ensure that these incidents do not repeat themselves.

Too often, commercial vehicle drivers blame their smartphone navigation applications for routing them onto restricted roads. While truck-specific smartphone navigation applications already exist to help truck drivers avoid restrictions like low bridges and other commercial vehicle prohibitions, they often require subscriptions for full functionality, limiting their usage. Instead of using this costly technology, commercial vehicle drivers often rely on your free services and do not fully appreciate that they do not include important information about road restrictions.

Integrating warning features into universally available navigation applications, like Google Maps, would make them more widely accessible, preventing further accidents. Your application already allows users to make choices about what kind of information is displayed to them. One possible solution is allowing users to indicate they are driving commercial vehicles and alerting them to restrictions on roadways.

We strongly urge your company to develop and implement solutions for commercial vehicle drivers relying on your navigation platform. It will undoubtedly reduce accidents and traffic delays caused by commercial vehicles operating on restricted roads. We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.

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