Accidents ‘Caused’ by GPS devices

Every few weeks, especially during the summer months, there is another report of somebody driving badly and blaming it on their GPS system. Having trawled through the media here are some of our favorites.

1.   Car becomes stuck on New York railroad – Having been instructed by his GPS, an unnamed man from Silicon Valley drove onto the train tracks and became stuck before being hit by an oncoming train. He had of course chosen to ignore the obvious road signs warning him of the danger.

2.   Ambulance crew goes 200 miles in wrong direction – Of all the people that should know where they’re going you’d have thought the emergency services would be near the top of the list. But in the UK a London ambulance crew followed their GPS and not the road signs and took a patient to Manchester, some 200 miles (320Km) away!

3.   1600 miles out of the way – Syrian lorry driver, Necdet Bakimci, was meant to be taking luxury cars from Turkey to Gibraltar off the coast of Spain. Unfortunately, following his GPS devices advise he ended up at Gibraltar Point in Skegness some 1600 miles (2500Km) away.

4.   Typo sends Swedes wrong way – Whilst looking for the clear waters of the island of Capri in Italy, a Swedish couple drove 400miles (600 km) out of their way to the northern industrial town of Carpi.

5.   Wrong house destroyed – The title says it all, but a demolition crew in Georgia, America, knocked down the wrong house because their GPS gave them the wrong coordinates. The demolition crew said that they’re saying that they have the paperwork with the correct coordinates and a description of the building, so they were in the right.

6.   Turn right off the cliff – Blindly following his GPS, the owner of a BMW almost drove to his death. Going down narrow roads and steep lanes on the way into Todmorton in the UK, the driver continued to drive straight ahead, and had it not been for a fence he would have fallen off a cliff.

The moral of all of these stories is that, no matter how accurate your GPS is, you must pay attention, read road signs, watch what you type and don’t forget to think. As your parents once asked “If so and so jumped off a cliff, would you follow?” the same question must be posed when following GPS instructions.

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