The dangers of relying too much on GPS/Satnav

[23skidoo]

Along with reading real books, another "art" that is fast going by the wayside is the ability to read maps.

I know people who have blindly followed their GPS or Satnav as some call them systems into fields, through parking lots, and countless dead-ends, assuming that just because the computer gives them a suggested route that it actually is a suggested route.

This one takes the cake, though. Some truck driver in the UK was following his navigation system blindly and, well, the pictures speak for themselves.

Of course the only thing I can guess is that he must have one of those newfangled ones that actually does the driving for you. That's a joke, but I know they're working on such systems for cars, so I can imagine this sort of incident will probably become more common (along with cars driving into rivers while following non-existent river crossings, etc...)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...GV-narrow-alley-blindly-following-satnav.html

Alex

 

[scotpens]

So the driver just blindly followed his satnav’s directions, even when he could see that the alley was obviously too narrow for his truck. That’s the sort of unthinking obedience that led to Nazi Germany.

Godwinned in two posts!

Seriously, I have no use for those devices. If I need directions, I’ll just whip out my trusty, old-fashioned, paper Thomas Guide (a road atlas). I’ve never been one to follow travel directions anyway, whether verbal or from a machine. I prefer to look at a map and figure out the route myself.

 

[RoJoHen]

That's pretty awesome. We have several bridges around here that are too short for semi trucks, and the trucks regularly get stuck inside them. Often, it completely rips the top off of the truck.

I never thought that it might have something to do with them following their GPS, but that would make a lot of sense, considering there are warning signs all over the place that trucks don't fit.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Related stories:
The dangers of relying too much on the stars
The dangers of relying too much on a paper map
The dangers of relying too much on a compass and a sextant
The dangers of relying too much on road signs
The dangers of relying too much on asking prostitutes for directions

 

[Psion]

Related stories:
The dangers of relying too much on the stars
The dangers of relying too much on a paper map
The dangers of relying too much on a compass and a sextant
The dangers of relying too much on road signs
The dangers of relying too much on asking prostitutes for directions

Yep. Didn't fit when I did that, either.

 

[That Weirdo In The Corner]

there was a similar thing a couple of years ago where several drivers drove in to to a river because "the sat nav told me to"

It's not the technology that is at fault.

 

[MacLeod]

A Sat Nav is an aide to navigation. you as the driver are stll resoponisble for reading the road, how wide/narrow it is, warning signs, road signs etc...

You can't blame the sat nav for your error. You can't assume that it has the most upto date maps etc..

 

[sojourner]

I refuse to use Sat Nav because I don't want aids.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, GPS should only ever be used as a supplement rather than a replacement. The reliance on them can be dangerous as they can give a lot of errors. Reminds me when I was visiting my sister in D.C. We took a drive to my Uncle's in Pennsylvania, and the route it gave us to start off with was a rather odd one that actually had us eventually double back to where we started. We were rather perplexed.

 

[Brolan]

Speaking of D.C. my GPS there was amazingly useful. The streets there are as complex as the government and I think I would still be looking for the road to Mt Vernon without it.

 

[publiusr]

A guy shoed up at my job looking for a different company, and argued with me about how his Iphone whatsit gave him directions here, even though he could plainly see a different company name plastered against the side of our trucks.

It pays to have a real map.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

All maps that GPS navs use are real maps. Just that like all maps... they are sometimes inaccurate. A paper map could have caused the same misunderstanding. Ah, what do you say, an iPhone? Yeah, Steve Jobs is always more right than you, you should have admitted that you were wrong and his iPhone was right.

 

[RobertVA]

A lot of paper maps didn't even have indicate which street numbers were on which blocks. For the address of an individual business you had to use the phone directory, which only came out once a year.

The oil company maps were often large sheets of paper that were a challenge to fold back up after use, but the price was right (most were free). My parents were members of an auto club that provided strip maps for intercity trips. Each of the strip maps showed the main highway between two cities with mileage indications along the edge. The agents at the auto club office would bind a custom set of the strips in sequence for a cross country trip. They even had a rubber stamp to mark the places with a reputation for being speed traps.

 

[MacLeod]

Sat Nav's are a great tool for finding a specific place within a city/town.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

I refuse to use Sat Nav because I don't want aids.

Everyone has AIDS!
AIDS AIDS AIDS!
AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS!
Everyone has AIDS!

 

[FreezeC77]

I don't think the problem was GPS/Satnav on this, but the type used. I believe there was some type of incident earlier this year in the US where a truck or bus driver ended up going through some type of overpass that didn't have enough clearance and causing an accident because he was relying on a regular GPS/Satnav. There are commercial versions for trucking/large vehicles that will take into account the size of the vehicle.

I'm assuming this person in the UK was just using one that would have been ok for a car, but obviously not a truck of that size.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

To be honest:
- I always use GPS + electronic map to navigate an area, even in areas I know a little.
- I never use GPS navigation (because I'd like to use OpenStreetMap to support the project and I try not to use proprietary software when I can – and navigation software that fulfils either sucks for me)

And, unless I'm in a hurry, I only look at the GPS once in an hour or less. Finding your way without it isn't that difficult, and I can't understand why would you want something to tell you which turn to take on each intersection. I used navigation once and soon I was like “Shut up, I prefer to go the other way!”

Constant nagging is useful so you don't want to take a wrong turn and add a few dozen kilometres when you have to turn back. This happened the last time we were travelling with a paper map. It sucked, but I'd rather have that once in a while than the annoying distraction telling everyone where to go. Plus, navigating yourself means you're paying attention to the direction you're going, and silly mistakes “caused” by the GPS like the one in the OP are less likely or at least less funny.

 

[scotpens]

. . . unless I'm in a hurry, I only look at the GPS once in an hour or less. Finding your way without it isn't that difficult, and I can't understand why would you want something to tell you which turn to take on each intersection.

Maybe if you’re in the army and you’re accustomed to close-order drill, or if you go to a lot of square dances.

 

[MacLeod]

To be honest:
- I always use GPS + electronic map to navigate an area, even in areas I know a little.
- I never use GPS navigation (because I'd like to use OpenStreetMap to support the project and I try not to use proprietary software when I can – and navigation software that fulfils either sucks for me)

And, unless I'm in a hurry, I only look at the GPS once in an hour or less. Finding your way without it isn't that difficult, and I can't understand why would you want something to tell you which turn to take on each intersection. I used navigation once and soon I was like “Shut up, I prefer to go the other way!”

Constant nagging is useful so you don't want to take a wrong turn and add a few dozen kilometres when you have to turn back. This happened the last time we were travelling with a paper map. It sucked, but I'd rather have that once in a while than the annoying distraction telling everyone where to go. Plus, navigating yourself means you're paying attention to the direction you're going, and silly mistakes “caused” by the GPS like the one in the OP are less likely or at least less funny.

Where sat nav comes in handy is in a situation such as this

Lets say you live on one side of a country and you need to visit a place on the other side of the country. A Sat Nav is very useful for finding a specific location within a city.

Some of your alternatives without one is :-

Ask for directions
Have pre-printed out directions for you to follow
Take maps of every city/town etc... you are likely to visit

So far a lot of stopping to read/ask for directions rather than actually going where you want to go.

 

[scotpens]

^^ Real men never ask for directions!