Skip to Content

Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

Map of the world

Don't BlindlyTrust Your GPS Device

I don't have a GPS device. For me, part of the fun of road trips is getting lost; I enjoy navigating unknown cities and long, remote stretches of highways with my trusty Rand McNally. That's not to say I wouldn't use a GPS device in conjunction with a paper map -- but I wouldn't rely solely on the satellite navigation system. Case in point: Back in March, the driver of a £96,000 Mercedes relied on her GPS system a little too much and ended up following its directions right into a river.

"The Mercedes SL500 was swept 600 yards downstream, bouncing from one bank of the River Sense to the other as the woman, in her late 20s and from London, frantically tried to escape," described the Daily Mail. "She was finally rescued by villager Alice Clark when the car ran aground."


This seems to be happening more and more often. A driver in Italy recently trusted their GPS device's directions when it advised pulling off the road and onto a train track. Here's a rather boring video of said car being pushed off of the tracks:


And even when you're not blindly following incorrect, computer-generated directions, studies have shown that "using GPS while behind the wheel is actually more distracting and less safe than unfolding a paper map and using it to find your way," reads our sister site Engadget. Thirteen percent of drivers, according to the survey, relied exclusively on their GPS for directions, "rendering them completely oblivious to the world around them." With numbers that high, I'm surprised we don't have more people driving into rivers and onto railroad tracks.

[via]

Filed under: Gear, Video

Search Travel Deals

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Gadling Features

Categories

Become our Fan on Facebook!

Featured Galleries (view all)

The Volvo Ocean Race onboard Team Abu Dhabi
Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space
Breakfasts around the world
FoodFlags
Outrageous State Fair Foods
The world's ten most uninhabited countries
Yellowstone in pictures: 2011
Most crowded islands on earth
Burj Khalifa: The tallest building on the planet

Our Writers

Grant Martin

Editor-in-chief

RSS Feed

Don George

Features Editor

RSS Feed

View more Writers