GPS sends another driver onto train tracks of doom
By Donald Melanson 
posted Sep 30th 2008 12:42PM
posted Sep 30th 2008 12:42PM
We've seen some pretty extreme cases of excessive faith in GPS, but this may well be the first instance of the ill-advised practice nearly exactly repeating itself. As you may recall, earlier this year a Bedford Hills, New York man trusted his GPS so much that he apparently thought it was perfectly reasonable to follow the directions directly onto a set of train tracks. That didn't exactly work out so well, for his car or the oncoming train. Now, as The Journal News reports, another man followed his GPS onto the very same set of tracks last night and, while he did get out in time to make a surely embarrassing 911 call, that apparently wasn't enough to prevent a commuter train from slamming into the car a few minutes later, causing an hour and a half delay but, thankfully, no injuries. Maybe it's time for some signs?
I don't know if signs will help, people would be too busy staring at their GPS systems to read the signs.
It's amazing to me how dumb these people are. Doesn't anyone actually LOOK where they're going? They should pass a law saying if you wreck your car following a GPS your license is revoked.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
“I am so transfixed by the AWESOMENESS of my GPS that I don’t bother to look up or notice the weird bumpy road with steel rails and wood bars running across it” ;^/...
“I am so transfixed by the AWESOMENESS of my GPS that I don’t bother to look up or notice the weird bumpy road with steel rails and wood bars running across it” ;^/...
i guess flashpoint really liked the signs comment
@Kris
Amen to that, brother.
In mother New York, GPS drives you!
Everytime I turn on my GPS in my car it says "routes are only a suggestion... please use caution...". I find it annoying & wish I could turn it off, but I guess for every one of me there's another of this guy.
Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but come on. How dumb can we get? Geesh.
If your GPS told you to jump of a cliff, would you? This man clearly would ..
I love these stories. They just show the idiocy of some drivers.
No, they show the idiocy of the average person. It's a good thing that all people don't drive.
If they ever made a "Final Destination" movie #$, this would be a good death sceene, the GPS kills you!
moo ha ha!
If you RTFA (which is still somewhat slim on details), it sounds like for some reason cars get stuck (high-centered?) here all the time. The victims got out of their car and spent some time (5+ minutes) trying to get the car un-stuck.
Now, I'm guessing if the GPS sends them here, and they actually drive far enough to get to the tracks, there must be a road. Why on earth the road is designed in such a way that your cars gets stuck, I'm not quite sure. You'd think the article would go more in depth on that matter.
Time for signs? How about time for some friggin' common sense?
Seriously. This should be a Darwinism measure. If you follow the GPS onto the tracks, the car doors should lock and force you to realize your stupidity before being reduced to two dimensions by a train.
Common senses != common
What is wrong with people? God this is proving the 100IQ is the average theory... common sense is not so common apparently. Darwin FTW.
100 is the average IQ because that's how IQ is defined...
The real average is 90-95 in the US.
There are three kinds of lies - lies, damned lies, and statistics.
100% of people belong to the human species. I do question that statistic every time I see Bush or McBush on video.
@wootman
you forgot True Lies...
SIGNS?
haha... Forget the signs. I vote to let them exterminate themselves...
how many bystanders do they get to take out on their way out?
here here
There There
apparently engadget readers are still too lazy to see the sarcasm
what does being lazy have anything to do with sarcasm?
why did he leave his car on the tracks? is the discovery that your gps sucks so jarring that you have to start acting like the wife in slaughterhouse 5?
@konshuss
Awesome Vonnegut reference! +1
maybe, just maybe he got stuck, but that's just my guess
Stuck????
NO.
He/She had to make the bonehead turn to start the whole mess...people are generally stupid. It was certainly someone taking the GPS verbatim I'd assume. i swear, even my in-laws who are a bit older than myself thought mine was some sort of auto pilot device or cruise control that sat on the dashboard. This coming from the same people (Love them dearly by the way) who called me once late at night to ask how to check email they never set up an account for. They just thought somehow it magically came to them in the black box (PC Tower) and they could write back. LOL
That's the problem with these built-in GPS devices. Leaving your car on the tracks is the best way to get rid of the piece of rubbish.
my GPS once drove me to the bank and had me empty out all my accounts and then mail them to an "investment house"...I should be getting my first intrest check anyday now
What was this about the GPS that drives you again?
Wow, we have drones already? If they can't watch the (rail) road, what makes you think they'll watch for signs?
I think the GPS software just knows how to handle the dumb drivers.
It's not aggressive enough, needs to drive them into a volcano or the nearest geographic equivalent.
Obviously he had his SatNav AI difficulty on "Veteran".
Oh baby, I didn't know that this was a strip-joint! My GPS said that this was a regular restaurant!
Survival of the fittest. Additionally, in every state, they should make every driver take a driving test every 10 years. I'd bet you'd be amazed how many people fail and have to re-learn the rules of the road!
I agree. Especially older people, they are just dumb :/
slow != dumb.
You'll probably be old and "stupid" someday, unless you follow your GPS into a river, that is...
Hey, I failed the NC test when I moved. 10yrs after my first license, so yea your right.
Me, i would have aired down my tires in winter weather. not add chains, but to each his own. NC drivers arn't exactly the brightest either. I hate having that tag as I'm sure others notice as well.
GPS...helping the process of Natural Selection
Skynet is quiely thinning the ranks of the human race...
The Human race does not need Skynet's help to thin out humanity.
That was Skynet's plan all along. No nukes or shit like that, but the gradual death of everyone through erroneous GPS directions. OF COURSE!
With humanity getting more and more stupid, wouldn't it be better if Skynet were to help humans procreate than to help thin the population?
GPS? More like ATMOS, am I right?
Yeah, better make sure the GPS isn't interfaced to the emission system in the car!
Sontar-Ha!
Michael Scott should know better.
I hope he has to pay for the damage to the train that moron. Idiocy is no excuse.
Bai was ticketed after blocking the tracks and was to be held liable for the damage and other costs of the crash, railroad spokesman Dan Brucker has said.
Must be a Tom Tom. The one we tried, and replaced, tried again, and replaced again, wanted us to drive into a canal, drive across 4 lanes of oncoming freeway traffic (no exit anywhere near there) drive into a cornfield, and could not find the University without first driving 20 miles out of the way to the airport, then driving another 20 miles to another location, but never to the University in downtown area.
The company did not see this as a flaw - I guess we would call that a feature???
Updating the device/maps might help out perhaps? ;)
They need to make a motivational poster out of that picture: GPS: It doesn't fix stupidity.
Here ya go:
http://media.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/96029/970312.png
The GPS didn't tell them to get out of the car and call the police. Why didn't they do that?
Technology made me drive my car into a lake.
I was supposed to be on the train that hit the Bedford Hills car, I missed it though and caught the next one. I was right behind that train and we were delayed for a couple of hours. I was worried about the guy thinking someone was hurt but the next day I found out what happened and all I could say was what kind of idiot would follow his gps onto railroad tracks, well I guess there are 2 idiots that would. My work day is already long enough, I couls only imagine if the people on all the trains that were delayed getting home found out precisely why there was a car on the tracks the driver would have had an ugly mob on his hands.
Why do cars still have windshields? Apparently you don't need to look in front of you to drive a car anymore, just a GPS device.
Humans are too stupid to be trusted with technology.
I'm not quite sure how a doll has anything to say about humans or technology, but, ahem, we humans actually invented this technology, no one else.
"we humans actually invented this technology, no one else"
That's the tragedy of it... no wait, it's funny. Actually.
Come on guys....obviously the train was on the wrong set of tracks!
"Train arriving in 400 yards .... 300 yards ... 200 yards ... 100 yards..." *KAHBOOOOOM* "You have arrived at your destination"
Too bad he didn't stay in the car. Sounds like the gene pool needs some chlorine.
This is evolution in action. The gene pool is better off without these people as long as no one else gets hurt by their stupidity.
I remember one time, they had changed this street so it was only a one way turn to the right. And the GPS was telling me to turn left, LMAO. Thank god I use my brain before I follow my GPS's every whim.
So did mine a few times. But the instructions were spoken by a woman's voice, so I guess she meant the other left.
There is obviously more to this story than meets the eye. It is literally impossible to make a turn onto a street (or non-street) without looking out the windows to see where you're going. This is obviously a very poorly marked railroad crossing that is obscured by the surroundings and could be mistaken for a road by people unfamiliar with the area. I'd bet money that people have made this exact same mistake long before GPS systems came out.
In fact who put the incorrect gps entry though the same. Or may be who write the original roadmap committed the mistake because the lack on railroad crossing.
@Magallanes:
It looks like the tracks are near the road which he was actually supposed to be turning on. It could be there's actually nothing wrong with the GPS map data for this one, just someone hearing "in 50 yards turn left" and doing so immediately.
And some people don't seem to know that GPS just gives you a probability of where you are; mine usually claims to be good for a 10-meter circle, but in bad weather, in forests, or back before they turned off selective availability, 30 meters or worse is fairly common.
I'm still not used to having voice prompts, so I still glance at the screen for map context, and a quick note of other cross-streets before my turn. And I can't stand that 3D view everyone seems to love, because I can't read it like a map, I actually have to think about what the picture means--and that's the last thing I need when driving. Top-down 2D map or nothing.
It may be time to start requiring IQ test for drivers using GPS.
I read a book about this recently, think it was by Louis Kestenbaum, or maybe Louis Kestenbach, called "Looking Beyond the GPS into the Real World". Great book! Are we really so absorbed in our little machines? How can you not realize you're driving on railroad tracks???? I think we should all take a loooong look at the technology we've become so reliant upon.
That's not so hard to happen...Even to me, while using iGo8 with the last 2008 maps, it said I had to cross a train line, to get to the road that was on the other side...
Of course I was smart enough to know that something should be wrong...because besides the crossing being closed, it's not usual to have to cross train lines, with plenty of roads around...
So I just ignored it, while it kept saying to turn back and cross the line, and found out another road...
Then...it recalculated the way and this time, he no longer wanted me to cross the train line...go figure! :-p
I'm thinking that when you buy either vehicles with GPS in them or buying an after-market GPS device one must be given an IQ test and maybe read some of the many stories of the people who truly listened to their devices.
My GPS (Just shy of two years old) does give me some wacky directions some time. For example a quick trip 2 miles away some time results in a calculation of me first traveling to the Canada-US boarder (some 300 Miles away) and doing a U-turn and then come back on the free way.
If you are this f-ing stupid, then you deserve what you get. a GPS does not an auto-pilot make. You still have to steer and control the vehicle, use judgement etc. COMMON SENSE........got it?
I've been over the tracks he got stuck on, and it is a pretty unexpected location. Still, he should try to look where he's driving instead of staring at the GPS screen.
as Walter would say: "Duhhhhhhh!!!" :S
If it is the car in the picture it is a "hunter green" SATURN how bright could he have been before he bought his GPS? At least the ugly car was taken out. Bet he will get a subaru next hahaha
Big law suit?
if its against the law for a driver to have a DVD screen in plain view while driving - then it should be against the law for the GPS to be in plain view - ESPECIALLY when i've NEVER heard of anyone wrecking their car from watching a movie - but GPS?! DAYUM...americans are stupid..
Ahem...
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/11/another-brit-puts-complete-faith-in-gps-system-nearly-perishes/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/27/faith-in-gps-sends-mercedes-downstream/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/21/driver-follows-gps-onto-pedestrian-walkway-into-cherry-tree/
there's more worldwide but engadget only allows 3 urls
Gift baskets never endangered anybody’s lives.
It's only a matter of time before the train engineer follow his GPS, and gets the train stuck on the highway...
Im guessing the first guy worked for Bear and the second for Lehman or AIG
Wow...just wow.
Think of the possibilities once BMW and other companies start adding internet access to their cars.
"Flame war ends in fiery car crash!"
I know it's analog, but try paper maps. But then again, even paper maps rely on digital data, so it's not analog after all.
I know it's analog, but try paper maps. But even paper maps rely in digital data, so I guess paper maps are digital after all.
I soooooo nominate these guys for the Darwin Award!!!!!
Can't. He got out in time. Or too soon, whatever.
EPIC FAIL!! But yeah common sense, it also woun't heart for GPS to upgrade software so you actually follow a road instead of saying turn right when there's a building, I mean we were lost and look for a place on the same street, frigan GPS took us aroud the block, when we could of just turned around and drive 200 feet.
GPS = GlaDOS on research of human idiocy
Seriously, do people just not use their heads? Where can I find that Louis Kestenbaum book?