Their two most recent rescue missions involved people using GPS.
A Wicklow mountain rescue team has warned motorists not to rely heavily on their SatNavs when driving on mountain roads during freezing temperatures.
The Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue team revealed that of their four most recent call-outs, two involved drivers who insisted upon following their GPS navigation systems, which resulted in their getting trapped in snowdrifts.
Sharing the details of these rescue missions, the group said the first instance took place at approximately 6pm on Sunday 18 March 2018, when they were tasked with assisting five people whose car was struck in a snowdrift near the Sally Gap.
Working with the Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team, they said that the five tourists had been following their SatNav when the car got stuck.
The system had told them that the shortest route home was via the Sally Gap, despite the risk posed by freezing temperatures.
As a result, the two rescue teams drove out in the poor weather conditions, but in order to reach the stranded group, they were required to complete the final part of the mission on foot.
The group was escorted back to the mission rescue vehicles and brought to a spot where they could get alternative transport at about 8.30pm.
The second was at 7pm on Tuesday 20 March, when both rescue teams were tasked to assist two people whose car was also stuck in another snowdrift near the Sally Gap.
When the mission rescue personnel were deployed, they offered to drop the occupants of the car to Blessington. They were able to successfully get their own car out, but after insisting on continuing up the mountains, they got stuck again on the Glencree side and were subsequently rescued by a local tow truck.
On their Facebook page, the Glen of Imaal Mountain Rescue told motorists planning on driving through the area to “please take the time to consider the conditions of the roads along the route that your SatNav has chosen. They may still be impassable, single lane or flooded.”
