Death by GPS
 

(CBS News)
As more and more motorists become increasingly reliant on directions from GPS devices, experts are warning that putting too much faith in the gizmos can lead to trouble - sometimes with deadly consequences.


The problem, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker, has obtained a nickname all its own - Death by GPS.


The situation was highlighted when a Canadian couple got lost in the Nevada wilderness after following GPS directions to a dead end in that wilderness, police say.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/...ag=mncol;lst;1

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This was on The Early Show this morning. Quite sad and scary. There are a couple of times where I said to myself "I knew damn well this direction didn't make sense...damn you Garmin" or I knew Garmin was just telling me to make a circle so that I could end up back where I started...I could've gone the way I knew without Garmin. It's even worse if you don't know where you are and it's dark outside or inclement weather.

I say all of that to say, PLEASE keep your eyes and brain working and don't just follow what GPS is telling you.

Yikes :(

I always make sure that I have a general idea of where I'm going, even if I have GPS in place. It's better to be over-prepared before traveling to a place I'm unfamiliar with.

So sad.

Very. :(

I used to print out mapquest before going anywhere. When I got Garmin, I stopped doing that UNLESS I was iffy about the Garmin directions. I'm going to start print mapquest again because a friend and I had a laughable moment and debate over GPS. She (and my entire family) still uses mapquest so she didn't see the point of GPS. I don't disagree with her but I did want to drop her off on the side of the road so I could "take my Garmin ass home." LOL. :)

Living in a city where streets occasionally turn into steps (no kidding) I place absolutely zero faith in GPS.

I would love a GPS (I'm an idiot at directions...my home city is a grid, and I still manage to get lost), but having a map in the glove box as a back up is never a bad idea.

GPS + google maps on my phone. If the navigation is wrong, google maps is likely to be as accurate and more up to date than a physical map anyway. If I'm going someplace without signal I'd probably pick up a map.

I think I have state maps from most states I drive through anyway. Yay for rest stops.

So if somebody got lost in the wilderness prior to the advent of the GPS, what would be to blame?

Yeah.... that. I don't think this has much to do with a GPS at all.

Agreed.

I don't like GPS because I like to know the next step of the journey. I know that they can give you that, but I like to have a broader idea of wear I'm going.

Hee hee. DH and I once went to visit friends whose house we hadn't been to in a couple of years. We plugged their address into our GPS, and followed its instructions rather than checking Mapquest. We knew we'd have to cross a river, but the route map made it look as if there were a bridge. And then we heard: "Board ferry." WTF?!

So we boarded the ferry, which was a barge that could hold 3 cars, pushed back and forth across the river by a tugboat. Some "bridge".

At least the GPS didn't take control of the car and drive it into the river. There was a Doctor Who episode where someone was killed that way...

What if this had happened before the advent of GPS? Who or what would be to blame? *dundun...dunnnnnnnnnn....* :)

I believe it. I was driving along the east coast once and using my GPS. It was a long trip so I'd left at midnight so I could be there by morning. GPS led me to a dead end and told me to "turn left." Left of me was a dirt road. I hit the detour function and it said there was none, I had to go left. It was the absolute LAST thing I wanted to do but I didn't know what else to do, no internet on the phone and there was nothing open around me. I couldn't go back the way I came, it was a one-way. The dirt road ran out fairly quickly and I found myself driving THROUGH A FIELD. The last thing I wanted to be was a lost black woman in a field in South Carolina in the middle of the night! I know movies are just movies but the situation felt very A Time to Kill-esque. I was ready to get the eff out of there.

The field thankfully ran out behind a Denny's and I had to gun my car to jump a curb to get into their parking lot. My mom doesn't trust my GPS to this day (and neither do I, really). I learned my lesson. Now, I look up all directions on Yahoo/Google maps before I leave, just in case.

ETA: If it had happened before the advent on GPS, I would have blamed it on my poor sense of direction. But it didn't. ;)

didn't anyone do that thing where you got google instructions from US to France and it told you to swim across the ocean

I'll take a map any old day

Just had this conversation at dinner tonight, because sometimes my work takes me to a reservation with dirt roads and NO street signs (they've all been removed by those who live there. They know where everything is, and don't want non-residents to know).

One of my dinner companions explained how to find my way around in that situation; start from the last known place I was at, set my trip odometer to "zero" and then dictate into my phone as I get to where I need to be (usually I follow a tribal official who accompanies me when I have work to do there). So, I say "starting from the corner of W and O (last known street address) go .3 of a mile, turn North at the house with the red door, go 1.2 miles turn West at the rock cairn on the dirt road"... you get the idea.

So sad to read that story. Mapquest has messed me up a few times as well, so I am grateful for the years I spent orienteering as a recreational activity. I can use a compass, I can read a topo map, and I look for landmarks when I'm in unfamiliar territory.

It's called a joke.