The farmer's market is 300 meters on your left.

GPS had nothing to do with it.


...stupid is as stupid does

Isn't that how Dwight Schrute killed somebody on Monk?

/yeah, it was a few seasons ago

I was using a GPS a couple of weeks ago in Greenville - if I'd followed the instructions to the letter, I'd have run into a building. It also had a habit of not knowing I was on a road, randomly making crap up, etc.

I remember being on patrol (USCG) in Boston Harbor a number of years back and watched helplessly as a boater navigated right into a submerged rock (lower middle). There are marked channels on all sides of the rock to keep boaters away from it, it's marked on charts, and is a pretty well known hazard to avoid. After the boat hit the rock and damaged its outboard engine we were able to get close enough to assist. The response from the operator of the boat: "but my GPS told me to turn left here".

My GPS often tells me to drive up the wrong side of the highway and along crowded foot paths, A GPS is what you call that other voice in your head isn't it?

"Hmmm. That sign says the road is closed, but my Magellan hasn't lied to me yet!"

Common sense seen fleeing the scene.

When removed from his car, the 80-year old driver said "how'd I end up at the beach?"

To be fair, it doesn't say that he didn't punch in "huge pile of sand" as his destination. I'm still willing to give him some benefit of the doubt.

Good thing it didn't steer him to a Volvo dealership

Nothing is perfect. You've gotta trust yourself, I chuckled. The Google Maps come closer, dude.

The GPS system on a neighbor's SUV died last week. Not fixed yet.

He had been rather insufferable about the damn thing's utility since he got it about a year ago.

Now he has a problem. He can't remember how to get to anywhere he started going to in the last six months or so. His brain simply quit recording the data and let the external autopilot take care of the driving decisions.

Was there a 6-foot-long python involved?

Altoid: "Hmmm. That sign says the road is closed, but my Magellan hasn't lied to me yet!"

Followed right after by: "That large pile of sand should not be there. Therefore, it must be a hallucination or illusion. I will close my eyes and it shall not harm me. Praise the machine!" Thud.

Mercedes trifecta in play?

What a maroon.

An example of people not using maps. I don't need GPS. I don't get lost. Just a Thomas Guide by my side.

lmao'd

My coworker had this dumb girl run into him the other day because she followed her GPS directions to turn down a street. A one way street. The wrong way. D'oh!

Having a Garmin GPS has been exceedingly useful for long roadtrips through unfamiliar areas. So far, it's known every one-way street, intersection, etc. No major problems.

It's gotten me where I've needed to go every time. Maybe not in the most efficient manner, or how a local driver would do it, but it gets me there.

Of course, I also have AAA roadmaps for the US, a variety of states, and many of the localities in which I drive. A Thomas Guide for major metropolitan areas is also exceedingly helpful.

I just love the fact that I can plug an address over a thousand miles away into my GPS, and it'll get me there. Paying attention to the road and other drivers is much, much safer than constantly reading road signs to see if I'm coming up on my exit (the GPS lets me know far ahead of time when I need to prepare to exit or turn).

Note, however, the "paying attention" part. It's critical when driving. People who don't pay attention shouldn't be driving. Period.

Where were they going without ever knowing the way?

My Pioneer AVIC-N2 has been downright awesome. I've never had a problem with it sending me to a wrong location, and if I happen to miss a turn, it re-calculates on the fly and gives me new directions.

Very helpful when you've just moved to a new state with many more highways than you used to have...

Have you ever used GPS ..on weed?

Rainn Wilson rules!

GPS? Isn't everyone following stars and moss growing on trees?

I'm curious how these things work in Boston. "Turn left onto unnamed street..." Of course, sometimes the best route is to go down the wrong way of a one-way street. I'm not kidding. It was either go about 20 feet down the wrong way of a small street or go about a mile out of the way.

GPS is great but it won't replace common sense. If the map is out of date or wrong then all GPS will do is tell you where you are.

I didn't even NEED a GPS to send me wrong way down the street in San Francisco. All I needed was dead reckoning. Figured it out before any automobiles even saw me... though a scared bicyclist pointed out my error before I was past 45 degrees through my turn.

/when I'm 80, watch out, farmers' markets!

P.S., No pun intended on, "Dead Reckoning.'

I have one of those TOmTom GPS things. It's great for long distance driving, but is absolutely hopeless in a City Centre. Many times in Glasgow, it's told me to go down a one way street, or do a U-Turn in the middle of the road.

Not Florida? Huh.

Our Q-Tips (senior citizens) are slacking.

A German who grew up in the Third Reich obediently following orders into a disasterous situation?

Will wonders never cease?

Nobody followed the link on the side to the story about the woman who had lightning shoot out her anus?

"I was only following orders!"

Senator Claghorn: Thx for telling :)

Wasn't there a story exactly like this about another elderly german driver who drove off the end of a pier a couple years back?

Gerbund Legend?

A GPS was on my list of 'geeky toys' to get for a while... until I had the chance to actually use one in Boston. They suuuuuuck and I've done a 180 on them. Too distracting, gave wrong directions or missed instructions completely, would tell me to turn AFTER I had passed the street I was supposed to turn at, making it a huge hassle to drive.

Thanks, but no thanks. I'm sticking to my Treo, wap-enabled Mapquest, and my car's odometer to track distance. MUCH more reliable. If you need a GPS to tell you when numbered/marked exits with huge signs are coming up, you gotta do less talking (or whatever it is you're doing) and more driving.

So whats the over under on how soon people in the states start sueing the GPS companies for causing their accidents?

/sadly it has probably already happened.
/If not, I'll take 6 months

: I think you wwwere using a shiatty gps.

" "but my GPS told me to turn left here"."

HA. Did you kill him?

I remeber when i was younger we had a boat, were in the middle of long island sound, a 20x100 mile body of water, we rn into this guy in a little open speedboat, asking for directions. THis jackass was using one of those nautical placemats as a chart.

/we were getting gas anyway, told him to follow us to the marina, and then get a farking map.

GPS can be mighty helpful, especially in Europe, where city streets were laid out about 1000 years ago, and change names every few blocks. But don't rely on them, like I did last year in Paris, the night the riots in Aulnay-sous-Bois broke out. I used to be well-stocked with local maps, but had come to feel I didn't need them. Big mistake, when the damn GPS went out. My wife kept saying, "Why don't we ask those nice boys in hooded sweatshirts over there?" Lucky for us, I am also paranoid, and even luckier, found my way to the airport by dead reckoning.

Dad?

Senator Claghorn

Nobody followed the link on the side to the story about the woman who had lightning shoot out her anus?

I ate at a Mexican restaurant the other day, and had the exact same problem!

/one way
//aisle seat

1. get all humans to use GPS
2. give instructions that get them killed.
3. profit.

I am just waiting to hear that this guy is going to sue the maker of the GPS for giving him the wrong directions.

KevinOfOz: I'm curious how these things work in Boston.

I have the factory nav system in my new Toyota hybrid (chose to get it only because it meant getting the car in 2 weeks instead of 8-12 months). For the most part it's been very good in driving around Boston. (work north of the city, work in Southie on the waterfront - Queen Mary 2 is about 100 feet away from me as I type this) About the only problems I run into are that 1: the road layouts in some places are different thanks to the Big Dig, 2: it doesn't help at all with all the detours thanks to the Big Dig tunnel collapse, and 3: as in any big city the system can get confused by all the roads that are really close together.

I've found that the last issue, of accurately tracking your position on roads close together in cities depends greatly on what kind of navigation system you're using. Before I got this car I had a Garmin GPS that I'd hook up to my laptop and run their software on it. Relying entirely on GPS was so-so in big cities. The navigation system integrated with the car not only relies on GPS but also on ded (deduced) reckoning when the GPS signal isn't available/accurate. Since it's built into the car the integrated navigation system also tracks the cars speed, direction, and turns. It can accurately track me in the tunnels of the Big Dig where GPS isn't available, even when I make significant changes in direction like going from I-93 (north/south) to I-90 (east/west). It's much more accurate than just GPS alone.

There must be some crappy navigation units out there, because mine is right on all the time. Of course it still won't tell me the road is closed. A lot of people slack on after market car units and don't hook up the reverse and speed inputs which does make them suck for accuracy.

GPS in America when you have stuff like Mapquest/Google Maps on cell phones easy is really not needed *too* badly.

In Japan however, those things are a godsend. Because Japanese people have yet to discover that you can name streets, a GPS is mandatory if you're driving. That or really good Atlas software for your PC that lets you print out everything ahead of time.

GPS in a rental car in the boondocks of Japan saved my freezing ass one night. Had to find a clothing store in a "town" where everything was at least 15km from everything else. And when you hit "civilization" it was a bunch of crossroads that barely met up with eachother in logical areas.

So I can't knock the GPS, but I do think if you're paying attention to it THAT much, then you should get a sense of direction and/or shouldn't be driving at all.

You only get lost once. after that, the place you farked up at becomes a "landmark".

I got as far as the first sentence:

AN 80-year-old German motorist