This could be a problem
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gps-may-have-told-man-to-drive-off-indiana-bridge-cops/ar-AAacOJs
Actually wasn’t a malfunction…just outdated GPS software.
Yeah, right, it was the GPS’s fault…
This is God’s way of weeding out the gene pool.
The important thing to remember is that you must be in control of your vehicle at all times. I’ve owned several different models of GPS and they all had one thing in common…they all were wrong once in a while. Even the top-of-the-line models.
But… but… he HAD control of the vehicle at all times! Right up until he went off the bridge!
I think the problem was WHO had control of the vehicle…
I agree. The problem was the nut behind the steering wheel.
GPS “Fall-function”?
;-]
GPS is an AID to navigation…
And my wife says the GPS says to go this way and I say I don’t care I’m not going that way! I updated our car Nav system and it cost me $100 and took 4 hours of the car idling in the garage to download everything so I don’t blame him for not updating. Plus they never tell you whether the codes are zeros or O’s? Whatever happened to the slash to tell you its a number. Then it still thinks I’m driving through a field on a two year old road but the restaurant list is up to date.
Seriously though, I think the DOT may have some culpability in this. There should be absolutely no way you can get on to the road. Cones and barrels just don’t do it. There should at least be several sets of the standard stand up barricades and I’ve seen piles of sand commonly used to block access so there is no way you would make it though. I remember coming out of South Bend to get back on the toll way and ended up on a closed stretch of new road. There were no blockades and the signage was very confusing. To go east you had to go north, then south, then east. Might be Indiana DOT needs to review their practices.
Remembering a guy that followed the gps and turned onto railroad tracks and was killed by a train. Trust the computer and throw common sense out the window? Now the outdated one I can see as a problem, the reason I got lifetime map updates. Recently an exit was changed from the left side of the road to the right, that could cause issues for a driver with an outdated gps! Maybe a public service announcement, check with GPS, but don’t forget to read signs as your GPS may steer you wrong!
This all boils down to…
Does the driver have both common sense and the ability to observe and understand road signs?
Just because an electronic device (or, a person for that matter) says “Turn here”, that does not mean that a driver should blindly follow that advice.
And these people are motoring around everywhere on a daily basis with all types of dangerous weapons in their hands; drivers licenses, voter registration cards, security pass to a local military base, etc…
I vaguely remember the incident mentioned by Barkydog about the guy turning onto the RR tracks and getting whacked. One would think the gravel and ties would have bumpety-bumped him out of his stupor.
I think the guys an idiot too.
But one thing that bothers me is the fact he could drive onto that road. Every road I’ve ever seen like this there are major obstacles in place that you’ll need a crane to move them. No way could you drive around them.
The GPS system should have given the “floor accelerator” command just after the driver turned onto the ramp for the bridge with the missing section. This is what the driver did on the movie “Speed” and saved the lives of the passengers by getting the bus up to top speed so that it would jump the gap.
I might feel differently if I actually saw the terrain, but if I understood the article correctly the road guys made every effort to ensure that nobody would drive down the bridge short of putting up chain link fencing. Signage, barrels, and bright orange obstacles were everywhere. The workers do have to get in and out of the site routinely, so they typically leave a path of some sort. I’d have a really, really hard time attributing any fault to the road crew. If I saw the site I might feel differently, but in all my decades of driving I’ve never seen a closed bridge that could possibly be mistaken for an open road.
@Triedaq that was a good movie, but I never could figure out why they have to make everything look so fake…or better said… impossible.
The stunt that drives me nuts is…every director has to have a speeding car …rear end another car where there is a ramp behind so the car flies through the air in a roll. Ever notice that the car being hit, never moves an inch from the force of impact.
Yosemite
Signage, barrels, and bright orange obstacles were everywhere. The workers do have to get in and out of the site routinely, so they typically leave a path of some sort. I'd have a really, really hard time attributing any fault to the road crew.
I agree the road crew isn’t at fault. The guy should have seen and obeyed the signs.
There’s this RR bridge in Liverpool NY that is only 11’ high. There must be 20 signs warning truckers about it. Even a detector that can tell if you’re too high and flashes lights and and audible alarm…but every once in a while you’ll still get a trucker hitting the bridge.
I-93 in NH is under reconstruction. There are miles of the old I-93 that they are currently tearing down. You can NOT drive your vehicle in that section of road unless you get a crane to remove the concrete barriers or come at it through one of the gated service roads.
I have a Garmin with lifetime updates. Garmin points out in the users manual that the software must be updated every year or malfunctions may occur. We’ve just seen how bad the consequences can be.
I have a garmin also…which I don’t use anymore. The GPS in my IPhone is as good or better and it’s always up-to-date.
This was not a GPS Malfunction, but driver error. What about all the people that didn’t have GPS in their cars …did they drive off the bridge. No just this guy.
Either he was too engrossed in the GPS that he used no common sense while driving. Or he had so little knowledge of driving that he shouldn’t have even been behind the wheel and on the road.
He had to have maneuvered through cones and barricades to end up at the point where the road ended. The story said nothing about safety precautions that were not in place. If there were precautions that were not met…by the road crew…I’m sure the media would have jumped all over that.
Yosemite