Trucker blindly follows GPS, gets wedged in farm lane

At first glance, we seriously assumed that we had mentioned this exact same story before. Turns out, one particular Maxi Haulage driver doesn't tune into Engadget, as he pulled the exact same trick in (almost) the same circumstances. Reportedly, this timber haul was cut short as the driver followed his personal GPS system down a "farm lane" suitable only for (presumably small) tractors, and needless to say, the 45-foot vehicle has been wedged ever since. Additionally, the owner of the property is quite irate, as the mishap is forcing her to drive an extra two miles until rescue arrives. Still, the motorist did cruise right by a sign noting that the upcoming road was unfit for heavy goods vehicles, so at least the sat nav can't take all of the blame this go 'round.

[Thanks, Carl H.]

[Nish Vamadevan @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:42AM]

This is an ongoing issue with GPS and Truckers...

[matt @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:03AM]

how many of these "dumbass driver blindly follows GPS into a ditch" posts do we need? it's getting old.

[Khris @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:13PM]

So are useless comments like yours.

Don't like the topic, don't post. Simple enough for even you to understand.

Perhaps you're just bitter because you too have been misguided by your GPS and it makes you want to die a little inside whenever you see someone else suffer the same fate.

[eng177 @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:40PM]

Yeah really - if your time is so valuable that you can't appreciate the occasional humorous article - get off the internet.

[Khris @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:44AM]

The driver needs to be given a wooden spoon and a corked fork to prevent him from further injuring himself due to his/her own stupidity!

[DSeaver @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:45AM]

It unfortunate that people that blindly follow their gps's often don't become Darwin Award Candidates. These people should encounter dire consequences more often than not when following their gps like this

[Patrick @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:45AM]

anyone notice how these things always seem to happen in the uk? not suggesting anything, i'm just wondering if maybe their maps aren't as robust as the ones in the us

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:56AM]

We just happen to have been around longer than America and so have more small roads and country lanes.

[Dan Davis @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:19AM]

^ Wouldn't that allow you more time to pave/map said roads???

FAIL.

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:29AM]

1 - Why would you pave a country road that is used by about 5 cars a day if that?

2 - It obviously is mapped if it showed up on a GPS.

So what does that make your post? Oh yes it makes it a 'FAIL' except that's the sort of thing only idiots say.

[spam_from_engadget @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:43AM]

> Wouldn't that allow you more time to pave/map said roads???

It is paved, and it is mapped.

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:52AM]

@spam_from_engadget - Looking at the above photos I'd have to disagree and say it doesn't look paved.

[Miker @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:21PM]

It's probably a grade 2 listed path protected by the National Trust or English Heritage (even though that sign looks like it's in Welsh) because Dick Turpin once farted there in 1720.

[Saad Rabia @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:46AM]

lol; The Office, season 4, episode 2.

[Flashpoint @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:47AM]

In other news...

a woman is suing Starbucks for giving her a hot latte which she spilled on herself.

[pkilla @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:00PM]

Once again another uniformed opinion. You just assume that the person is wrong and doesn't have a case. How about you find out facts about the case first.

There is a limit on how hot a store can make beverages. Should a person be burned just because they had an accident? The beverage shouldn't be that hot anyway. The reason they make drinks that really hot is because it save the company money. The hotter the water the less coffee beans they need to use.

[josh @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:48AM]

I find it funny that its a "Maxi" truck that uh, got stuck in between two walls... :X

[Matter @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:52AM]

I keep reading these stories and I still find it so unbelievable that people would throw away all judgement and absolutley insist on following what their GPS says.

For god sakes, even if you were following along with a GPS surely you must glance at the road once in a while!!! If a 2 year old can figure out you can't fit a square peg in a round hole why can't these "grown adults" come to the realization that you can't drive a damn semi down some farmers mud road.

I'll say it again, common sense needs to be a bit more common.



Matt

[Khris @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:59AM]

Common sense is no longer common and that is the "route" of this trucker's problem!

(couldn't resist a bad pun)

[jeffhtg @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:00AM]

Perhaps there was no place for him to turn around after the sign

[Anthony @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:03AM]

Rumor has it newer trucks have a reverse feature.

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:08AM]

Ever tried to reverse an articulated lorry?

[DT @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:06AM]

@Carbonize
Ever tried to dislodge an articulated lorry from a narrow country lane? I'll try reverse, thanks.

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:15AM]

I mean he couldn't of reversed it all the way out on his own. Yes you could reverse it enough to dislodge it but without someone to guide him he wouldn't have a hope in hell of reversing all the way back up the lane.

[Drew @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:01AM]

Probably on his way to pick up a shipment of tasty Potato Wedges... oh the ironing..

Perhaps these people should invest in one of those "secret" Navitron Autodrive systems that Red Barclay(RIP) used...

[Colin B @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:27AM]

"You know, this [Navitron Autodrive]...With this baby driving your truck for you, all you gotta do is sit back and feel your ass grow."

[DSeaver @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:48AM]

Yes, oh the ironing! I must ensure that my pants are properly creased!!!


I hope that ironing is a horrible typo and that you know that correct word is *irony*

[wesg @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:58AM]

@DSeaver

Clearly you have never seen The Simpsons.

[The_Steven @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:02AM]

GPS is not a replacement for common sence!

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:06AM]

Unfortunately GPS navigation is more common than common sense and easier to come by.

[Dr. Evil @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:14AM]

I told you technology sucked!

-- Ted Kaczynski

[Wyze @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:28AM]

Hey I got it!!!...that truck contained a secret shipment of CloudBooks.....which would explain why there are none available...wonder exactly which gps hardware/software he was using...the little bird on the treadmill must have been tired when he made that turn (think Flintsones)

[Rick @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:38AM]

Anybody notice the warning sign is in English and Welsh? What if the driver couldn't read either?

[Kelmon @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:01AM]

If they couldn't read either then it's a wonder that they made it as far as South Wales in the first place. Just as well they managed to interpret one of those handy "Drive on the Left" multi-lingual signs.

[ecobore @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:40AM]

The sooner the local councils map their own roads, put up legally binding weight RESTRICTIONS (except for local access) and give the data to the sat nav companies, the sooner this problem will end. Often these warning signs appear much too late, where there is nowhere to turn around. Having just spent four weeks driving around rural Britain (not much of that left in the south unfortunately!) I have seen dozens of these signs, and usually, it would be impossible to turn an articulated lorry around by the time they appear.

[Richy @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:56AM]

A proper commercial goods vehicle satnav system should take weight & size restrictions into account (again, depends upon the information that TeleAtlas and the like get; but mostly it's good and up to date).

However, the article states that this was the drivers *personal* satnav. I certainly haven't seen any of the 100 quid TomToms etc. come with the size/weight restrictions features...

[earthling @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:41AM]

Are we really supposed to believe that this farm lane actually showed up on any GPS map or is the driver using it as an excuse for trying to find his own shortcut..

[spam_from_engadget @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:46AM]

> Are we really supposed to believe that this farm lane actually
> showed up on any GPS map

The fact that it has the bilingual sign tells me that it's a public road - albeit a public road that only leads to a farm or two. So yes, it would certainly be included on a GPS map.

[Dan Jones @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:43AM]

Somehow I hear Michael Scott's voice: "The Machine knows!"

[ecobore @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:48AM]

actually the maps in the UK are pretty good, (MUCH better than anything I have ever found in the US!) the problem is that nobody bothers looking at them once they start using sat nav. (I don't even KNOW where my map is now) French Michelin maps are even better, take a look at www.viamichelin.com and plan a route across france. The detail is fantastic. As mentioned before, the satnavs cannot distinguish between navigable and non-navigable roads (for very large vehicles.) This can only be tackled by notified weight and size/height restrictions which in turn go to satnav map providers. The software will then get upgraded as the maps are upgraded. Really it is the fault of behind the times councils who can't be bothered to properly catalogue their own road systems!

[CraigJ @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:07AM]

Well, at least google fixed their driving directions from Boston to London, so hopefully no one will be drowning attempting to swim to England from the US.

[benjamin @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:09AM]

Apparently if someone found a way to hack into the data that all these GPS receivers draw from they could direct everyone to drive into the Grand Canyon or something.

People complain that they dislike the prospect of computer-controlled cars that drive themselves, but obviously computer-assisted human drivers aren't exactly Mensa material either.

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:44AM]

MENSA Member - Person who thinks they are intelligent but is gullible enough to pay an annual fee just so they can say they are a member of MENSA.

[AlphaTeam @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:17AM]

Having lived by GPS for several years now, I can say from first hand experience they are only for median sized family sedans and you should update you maps every year.

I wouldn't blame the truckers, I wouldn't put all the blame on the GPS manufacturers either. I think the biggest issue is that the GPS devices don't have an option to choose: number of axles, gross weight, etc.

These one time configurations will help a lot. Of it might also require TelAtlas or Navteq to start tagging roads with weight class settings, but shouldn't they have done that in the first place?

[Allen @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:21AM]

I hear this "Americans are stupid" jibe from Europeans all the time.

But, it seems, we are not as prone to follow our robotic masters as often, are we?

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:50AM]

Maybe not but when you do you certainly make more of a mess than we do - http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/man-follows-gps-directions-onto-train-tracks-into-dummy-hall-of/

[Richy @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:58AM]

So it is true. Everything in America really *is* bigger!

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:27PM]

"So it is true. Everything in America really *is* bigger! " - Well certainly when you are talking about weight, ego, stupidity and number of bullets/bombs required to hit the target.

[r3loaded @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:17PM]

Well, maybe you're as dumb as we are, you just have big wide straight roads, less chance of these incidents occuring.
Further proof that the human race as a whole is doomed.

[Mike @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:32AM]

Maybe the trucker should of had one of these:
http://packratstudios.com/index.php/2008/02/21/hansel-and-gretal-drunk-at-the-wheel-but-high-tech-bread-crumbs-get-them-home/