Rep. Chris Humphrey calls for action on GPS-Routed traffic on rural roads
Letter urges transportation and agriculture officials and navigation companies to address risks to residents, farmers, school buses, and motorists
State Representative Chris Humphrey (R – Lenoir, Greene, Jones) sent a letter today urging state and federal officials and major GPS navigation companies to address growing public safety concerns caused by motorists being routed onto rural secondary roads.
The letter was sent to the North Carolina and United States departments of Transportation and Agriculture, as well as Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze. Humphrey requested a coordinated review of traffic conditions on Davis Mill Road, Davis Hardy Road, John Green Smith Road, Smith Grady Road, Burncoat Road, and their connections with N.C. 55 West, south of Kinston.
Residents and local farmers have reported a substantial increase in unfamiliar through-traffic on these roads, including motorists traveling at unsafe speeds. They have also reported crashes, near misses, and dangerous encounters involving tractors, combines, farm trucks, and other slow-moving equipment.
“The start of the school year makes this concern especially urgent, as school buses travel these roads daily and make frequent stops to pick up and drop off children,” Humphrey said in the letter.
Humphrey emphasized that the goal is not to close public roads or prevent lawful travel, but to ensure routing systems adequately account for the conditions found on rural roads.
“Narrow travel lanes and shoulders, limited sight distances, residential driveways, field entrances, and slow-moving farm equipment can make an otherwise routine routing decision dangerous,” Humphrey said in the letter. “A navigation algorithm may identify a route that saves several minutes without fully accounting for those conditions.”
Humphrey asked the recipients of his letter to review traffic patterns, meet with local farmers and residents, determine whether GPS routing is contributing to increased through-traffic, and consider appropriate routing changes, driver warnings, signs, speed enforcement, or roadway improvements.
“The objective is not to prevent lawful travel or divert every driver from a public road,” Humphrey said in the letter. “It is to ensure that routing technology does not unintentionally transform rural farm and residential roads into high-volume shortcuts without adequate consideration of road design, agricultural activity, and public safety.”
Humphrey requested an initial response from each organization within 30 days and asked that appropriate representatives participate in an on-site review of the affected area.
“Farmers must be able to move equipment safely between fields, rural families must be able to enter and leave their driveways without unnecessary risk, and drivers unfamiliar with these roads should receive routes and warnings that reflect actual conditions,” Humphrey said in the letter.
Representative Chris Humphrey represents North Carolina House District 12, which includes Lenoir, Greene, and Jones counties.
