Gojirra99

Despite warning signs on either side, a driver ploughs through the ford (OLI SCARFF/SWNS)

Posted Apr 20th 2006 5:42PM by Marc Perton


We've heard reports before about the dangers of driving while under the influence of GPS, but it looks like drivers in the UK have taken trust of their navigation units to the extreme. Twice in the space of the last two weeks, we've seen reports of British drivers taking serious risks because they trust the info displayed on the small screen more than what they see through their windshield. In the most recent case, drivers passing through the village of Luckington have found themselves landing in the River Avon, by following a GPS-recommended route that pointed to a bridge that has been closed for a week. Despite warning signs on both sides of the road, and nothing but water straight ahead, local villagers have found themselves pulling an average of two cars a day out of the river for the past week. "When you ask what happened, they say, ‘My sat-nav told me it was this way,'" one resident told The Times. Meanwhile, the village of Crackpot (yes, that's really its name) has had to deal with drivers whose navigation systems have directed them to the edge of a cliff with a hundred-foot drop. So far, there have been no serious injuries, but drivers have found themselves stranded on a rocky path. "It's only a matter of time before something happens," said one resident. Listen, we like GPS as much as the next sense-of-direction-impaired driver. But we also do our best to use our eyes, as well. And if you don't, well, there's a village in England named for you, and it ain't Luckington.

source : .engadget.com/


Drivers on edge over cliff route

One sat-nav firm has now removed Crackpot from its database
Drivers following satellite navigation systems through a village called Crackpot have been directed along a track at the edge of a 100ft cliff.

Cars, minibuses and trucks have taken the steep, twisty road from Swaledale to Wensleydale in North Yorkshire.

When vehicles become stuck, drivers are reversing perilously close to the cliff edge, say worried locals.

Carol Porter, 39, who lives at Summer Lodge Farm, said: "We want this sorting out before something terrible happens."

She said that she and her husband Steven, 41, who live next to the track, have been helping at least one driver a week.

"When they get grounded on the small boulders, we're having to go up there in the tractor and pull them out," said Mrs Porter.

"If we're outside, we try to stop them, but it's a public right of way so we can't put any signs up saying no entry."

The couple want to see the track removed from the route recommended by satellite navigation systems for travelling between Swaledale and Wensleydale.

She said: "The drivers are going up and through the gate on to the gravel track.

"You can see it goes from Tarmac to the stones - and it's only just passable with 4x4s.

"But we get a lot of sales reps in posh cars coming and they get so cross.

"We're three miles off the main road and having to turn them back and tell them to take a different road, they're getting really frustrated."

Even an Argos delivery truck had to turn round at Christmas when it was faced with the track, she said.

"It's only a matter of time before something happens - and it's a 100ft drop over the edge."

Database change

Grinton Parish Council has now asked North Yorkshire County Council to look into the problem and see if safety signs can be erected.

A county council spokesman said: "We will look at the signing issue and any appropriate action that needs to be taken will be taken."

A spokeswoman for Trafficmaster, which makes the Smartnav system, said it had removed any possibility of through-routes making use of Crackpot from its mapping database after tests on Wednesday morning.

She added: "The tests showed if you keyed in Crackpot as a destination then you would be sent along this route but it would not have been used as a through-route on our system.

"We believe our system would not have been responsible for taking motorists on unsuitable roads in the first place."

Source : bbc.co.uk

read also : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...142179,00.html

Iceman

And this, my friends, is why we all have to click past that freakin' waiver screen just to use our nav units. As usual, the idiocy of 0.00001% of the population results in the punishment of the remaining 99.99999%.

LexLaw

So well Said!