200 miles later, ambulance crew learns to be skeptical of GPS

As much as we like playing with GPS devices and using them on the road, there's no substitute for good ol' fashioned maps (not to mention, um, common sense) for navigating unfamiliar territory. An ambulance crew attempting to transfer a patient from a hospital from London (King George Hospital) to another in Brentwood -- a mere 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) to the northeast -- ended up blindly following their nav unit, which somehow guided them 200 miles to the northwest, all the way to the outskirts of Manchester. Eight hours after setting out on their journey, the ambulance finally made it to the appropriate destination (Mascalls Park Hospital) -- luckily for them, according to United Press International, the "patient's health was not jeopardized" and "the drivers have been told to study their geography and learn to think for themselves." What a novel concept.

[Via UPI, thanks Dan]

[Lou @ Dec 4th 2006 1:06PM]

I've followed Tom Tom about 10 miles out of my way, but not 200.

[byaah @ Dec 4th 2006 1:18PM]

Wow.

[TC @ Dec 4th 2006 1:21PM]

Just to let you know how insane this is, to complete this journey you just have to go up one road - the A12 - for about 8 miles before simply following the Hospital signs at Junction 28. There is no way a GPS unit would send them all the way to manchester.

[Will @ Dec 4th 2006 1:35PM]

I've entered an address correctly but failed to take note of the wrong city... believe me as soon as I saw the mapped out path... I knew my error.
Destination 200km.... errrr...

[Brad @ Dec 4th 2006 1:58PM]

Blind faith in GPS....lol...its a good thing the patient didn't have any complications.

[sandiegocali @ Dec 4th 2006 3:14PM]

This is crazy, I am a Paramedic (in the US) and can't see how this could happen. Dispatch didn't check in with the crew, after say... an hour??? Morons. I feel bad for their patients if they have that kind of blind faith in equipment. "The monitor said they had a pulse, no need to manually check"

[Nick @ Dec 4th 2006 4:04PM]

I find this absolutely hilarious

and pretty dang sad. Are the same guys tending to the patient the ones that drive, cause.... i wouldn't want them tending to me!

imagine if they were transporting a trauma patient from the scene of an accident instead

[spookthehamster @ Dec 4th 2006 4:11PM]

I don't get this, I know people who've trained to become ambulance drivers here in the UK. After their paramedic training they had to spend a huge amount of time learning every little bit about the area they're going to be working in. It also seems like they were doing a trip they would easily know about, if there wasn't a shortage of paramedics I'd want these people sacked. At the very least, they need to go back into training.

The one thing I always tell people I sell sat. nav. units to is this: NEVER TRUST IT FOR A ROUTE YOU ALREADY KNOW.

[Neil @ Dec 4th 2006 4:54PM]

I once had a rental car with a GPS in Vancouver BC, Canada. I selected the "Find the nearest resturant: Wendy's" and started driving. After about 15-20 minutes I thought something was wrong... and I realized that the "Closest" Wendy's it could find was in New York, USA. Thats when I pulled off the highway and into Wendy's to ask for directions. :)

[E71 @ Dec 4th 2006 7:40PM]

And the limeys call *us* dumb...

[Jedix123 @ Dec 4th 2006 7:40PM]

They must have been using the George Bush GPS... "STAY THE COURSE"

[Ron Larson @ Dec 4th 2006 9:12PM]

If their bosses were dumb enough to buy that excuse, then I have some land in Florida that they might be interested in buying!

Am I the only one who smells BS all over story? Lets see.... two employees, getting paid by the hour, get to drive a cool company vehicle (with sirens and light!) using the company's fuel to another city.

I think one or both of them had some personal business in the other city... like perhaps picking up a girlfriend and giving her a free ride to London? Picking up some drugs? A joy ride on the company's dime? Hmmmm..

[Wardell Latham @ Dec 5th 2006 3:47AM]

It's always the GPS's fault.

[Ronald Smith @ Dec 5th 2006 4:51AM]

These are the kinds of urban legends for the tech age that make the common public fear technology. I did waste about an hour a few weeks ago due to some road construction that TomTom could not foresee and human error of entering the wrong hotel.

It is a tool, not a substitute for thinking.

[funkycoldm3dina @ Dec 5th 2006 6:07AM]

useless drivers. didn't they pickup the mistake as soon as possible? i blame the drivers.