Watch The Road...

[DOXXP29 5]

Another example of society's overdependence on computers and lack of common sense.

Man Using GPS Drives in Front of Train

8 hours ago

BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. — A Global Positioning System can tell a driver a lot of things ??? but apparently not when a train is coming. A computer consultant driving a rental car drove onto train tracks Wednesday using the instructions his GPS unit gave him. A train was barreling toward him, but he escaped in time and no one was injured.

The driver had turned right, as the system advised, and the car somehow got stuck on the tracks at the crossing. He jumped out and tried to warn the engineer by waving. He got out of the way just before the train slammed into the car at 60 mph, Metro-North railroad spokesman Dan Brucker said Thursday.

The car was pushed more than 100 feet during the fiery crash.

Some 500 train passengers were stranded for more than two hours during the Wednesday evening rush hour. The accident also heavily damaged 250 feet of rail, Brucker said.

The railroad said that the driver was issued a minor summons for obstructing a railroad crossing and that he and his rental company would be liable for the damage, estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Geronimo 4]

Hahaha! That made my day. Poor soul, trapped by technology.

[coolotter88 2]

the GPS speaks, you don't have to stare at the map with the little car on it.

[Easy Bakes 253]

GPS just one more thing to distract the driver from paying attention to the road.

[Bookworm 1]

We just got a Magellan GPS in our car (a gift from grandparents who have one and love it), and creepy Star Trek references aside, it's really not worth all that much. Cool geek toy though

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[belfastuniguy 18]

We have GPS in all our cars and so far they have never given wrong directions. They even update with roadworks and give other routes, which do work....

I think this was more about the stupidity of the driver, clearly he should have been watching the road, if he had been he would have seen a rail line and took more notice. I'm also concerned that he was able to cross a rail line with a train approaching. Should there not have been barriers?

[Meg 368]

Some people just get flummoxed by technology.  GPS came with my car (a 2004 Prius) but it doesn't always know everything, like when  a new road is built.  That has to wait for the updated DVD.

I was taking my mom to the doctor, going on a this nice new road that cuts 15 minutes off the trip.   We reached the point where the GPS showed us at a end dead at a T intersection but there was obviously a nice, new road stretching out in front of us.   Mom got a little alarmed, wondering "what's going to happen now?" 

I told her we were taking the nice new road and the GPS would just have to get over it.  so it showed up traveling along a non-existent road. 

[Hahayoudied 3]

My parents doesn't have GPS, their cars are outdated, but the cars still work fine and they don't use much fuel.

[simzebu 19]

I hope he got the rental insurance...

Anyway, there are very few people who have any need for a GPS. The only reason I can think of is if you are regularly driving somewhere new, and can't be looking at a map constantly. For example, truck drivers, hired drivers, etc. Other than that, just use Google Maps or whatever.

[BurroDiablo 222]

I used to live next to a country Track that used to be a Secondary (B) Road, it probably hadn't been re-surfaced since the 1970's and was pretty much beyond repair, most of it passed my old house was impassable to cars, you could only get up there in a GOOD 4x4 or a Tractor. I used to encounter people getting guided by their GPS to drive up there since its a 'shortcut' to the A1... Articulated Trucks would get half way before relising that its virtually impossible to get through and then have to back up all the way down the road again.

There was similar thing that happened down in England, a certain GPS kept guiding people through fields... i've heard Oxford is pretty bad too, GPS asks people to drive through BUILDINGS.

I don't have GPS and i'm getting along fine without... just seems like another executive toy.

[Meastro444 1]

well, i actually enjoy giving instructions when we drive (since i can do map 'reading' and my parents cant do it as good as i do!)

[amdinside 2]

belfastuniguy: If you read the story you will see he got stuck on the tracks before a train came. He got out of the car and tried to wave the train down without success. He should know the GPS has a margin of error and if it says "turn right" you should make sure the road is there before you do. I don't think he will have much success using the "it was the GPS at fault" line.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: simzebu I hope he got the rental insurance...

Anyway, there are very few people who have any need for a GPS. The only reason I can think of is if you are regularly driving somewhere new, and can't be looking at a map constantly. For example, truck drivers, hired drivers, etc. Other than that, just use Google Maps or whatever.quote>

For some people, Google maps is not enough.  There are people who honestly need nothing less than a GPS system to get them where they need to go, if for no other reason than they are so spatially challenged that they can't relate directions on a map to where they need to go.

[Nerd_Guy 4]

ROFL

Technology is trying to kill us! I knew it! lol

But yeah, I agree with hym. Google maps once told us to drive straight through a building.

[Hahayoudied 3]

Google maps aren't useful, Google map only covers some area in the world, the others that aren't covered are fuzzy or missing. GPS, aren't good unless they are updated daily, free of program bugs and can point out if their are trains, cars, trucks, and etc.

[The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz 27]

What happened to the good old days of the Ordinance Survey map?

[PhilsCafe 8]

GPS are more like guidelines anyway, one shouldn't trust them too much... the ones used in cars aren't even accurate, they're just as accurate as the military wants them. But they can be helpful when you have no idea where you are at all.

[hamsterTK 93]

uhhh

I am having a hard time imagining this. So if your GPS tells you to turn right but the road isn't there and a train is coming, you turn anyways???

[Cleaner475 150]

What a story, just shows you what happens if you rely to much on technology,

Richard

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The real solution to all instrumentation on any vehicle is a Heads-Up Display (HUD) as is used in current military aircraft.  It would erase the idea of "glacing at the dashboard" completely.  With thin film and LCD technology, there is no reason why critical (or optional) instrumentation should not appear on the windshield.\

\One car, Lincoln, I think, has its rear view camera image on the rear view mirror.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: N_O_Body The real solution to all instrumentation on any vehicle is a Heads-Up Display (HUD) as is used in current military aircraft.  It would erase the idea of "glacing at the dashboard" completely.  With thin film and LCD technology, there is no reason why critical (or optional) instrumentation should not appear on the windshield.\

\One car, Lincoln, I think, has its rear view camera image on the rear view mirror.quote>

 

The problem with the heads up diplay is people would focus on the HUD and lose focus

on the other side of it.

[Explodingsims 3]

Hmmm...Another object to add to the list of accident causers...

At least this is safer than the dreaded FOLDING MAP!!!

[Rymac91 15]

I know that some cars wont let you edit or enter directions while the car is in motion(the prius comes to mind)which is one less thing to worry about drivers trying to do unless it's a portable GPS. And I've heard of alot of Germans obeying thier nav units whenever it says something, which has led to people driving off the road.

The thing about Americans is we tend to deny directions until we're lost, or get confused with conflicts in the directions and deny them. Only if a person humanizes a set of directions with buildings, landmarks then the person will know what's going on and be less likely to deny them.