It's a meme that
never gets old, wouldn't you agree? As the world gathers 'round again to chuckle at an all-too-faithful GPS user
in the UK, we're looking this time at a man who literally drove his BMW to the brink of disaster while following his sat nav down a skinny, steep lane on the way to
imminent death Todmorden. As the story goes, his navigation system apparently told him to drive directly into a fence just before the road fell off of a cliff, and considering that the 43 year old bloke uses the GPS for his job, you'd think he would have the whole "follow the leader" thing down pat. At any rate, the poor fellow did manage to survive, though he won't soon shake the "driving without due care and attention" charge. Nor the embarrassment.
[Via
Switched, thanks Alan]
posted Mar 26th 2009 2:41AM
Oh dear god, how can one person be so stupid?
Have you ever been to a walmart? try to ask where something is located. their answer will be something between duhh and choking on their own saliva. oh and it'll take a couple minutes to come up with that answer as they have to "check" with a manager.
there are only two things i ever go in there for btw. car oil and canned air.
I don't think one can. I think he's blaming technologie for his own carelessness. And it should be really easy to prove: just follow the last route he took in his car and see if it tells him to drive off the cliff.
Have you ever been to the United States, Jamie?
The saddest part of these accidents to me is that the driver always survives.
What happened to natural selection? The ultimate punishment for stupidity in nature is death. It is the perverse nature of human technology & society of keeping the exceptionally dimwitted individuals alive that boggles the mind.
@loocas
Funny you say that when this guy is from the UK.
...wait until it happens to you. :)
"The machine knows!"
- Michael Scott, Regional Manager, Dunder Mifflin
this is why i use that trusty thing called a map, or a buddy giving me directions. Maps are (probably) more accurate plus i don't drive off the road.
He should of known better but I think the Engadet headline is misleading by saying the sat nav told him to drive into the fence.
The BBC story:
Robert Jones continued to follow the instructions when they told him the narrow, steep path he was driving on in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, was a road.
Mr Jones, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, "only stopped when his BMW hit a fence" above Gauxholme railway bridge on Sunday morning.
He was a bit of a fool though.
Yes these posts does get old. So what if somebody is stupid to follow the road? Isn't that the first rule of driving?
M
Actually, the first rule of driving is to look out of the windshield.
He followed a footpath I read...
To follow the road, you have to look out the windshield.... Not all vehicles have windshields either...
M
To follow the road, you have to look out the windshield.... Not all vehicles have windshields either...
M
@onepinksheep
LMAO.
If I wrecked my 5 series, I would become an hero.
Why, the 5 series is a great car...
I'm thinking somebody doesn't realize what an hero means.
Gun in glove box then?
How can the person die in an M5 in such a small road? Was he driving at 150mph in that alley?
And if you're used to follow the GPS, you'd be experienced enough to check the road? Or you'd hit cars, people, etc.
Why are these people so goddamn stupid? Do they not look at where they're going?
After reading some of these stories about drivers getting into ridiculous situations as a result of following their GPS, I must assume that they fully focus their attention on the screen of their nav unit as opposed to...I don't know...maybe LOOKING AT THE ROAD LIKE A NORMAL PERSON.
Over here using a GPS is part of the driverpermit test, I hope you can fail on it too.
BMW owners are the worst drivers on the road (at least here in the UK), so not really surprised that this dipshit almost killed himself.
I always thought that the worst drivers were those who drove the Rover Metro...
Only when the metro has a bean-can for an exhaust.
Those Metro drivers usually "upgrade" to become BMW drivers. Metro driving just allows them to hone their bad driving skills.
hello
And you thought only Michael Scott could do this!
Well technically that was a lake, but same principle.
At least this makes me feel better that the US isn't the only country with idiots.
A classic case of technology dumbing down the masses. And proves the old adage of "if someone told you to jump off a cliff, would you?". If it was the hypnotic dulcet tones of a Tom Tom head unit then clearly the answer is yes.
and the point of double posting this article is???
and the point of pointing out that it was double posted is???
and the point of triple-question-marking your pointless question is?
Question marks!!!
These don't even count as mornng humor anymore. This is a waste of my time engadget. Please leave it off my RSS feed. Thanks.
agreed
boo hoo engadget your free content isn't tailored exactly to my needs, i'm a smug baby
Thank you Uncontrol, now I'm going to be at work imagining smug babies and chuckling to myself all day.
One does not simply sat nav into Todmorden.
aww I was going to say that (essentially)
Rofl'd
There's only 3 main roads in Todmorden, what do you need Sat Nav for?
Come on. Give the guy a break. The GPS did preface its instructions with "Simon says..."
Playing simon says with the gps would be awesome! I would probably get lost all the time as I suck at that game!
I don't use GPS because it is not that important for me, but I really have a question for those who do.
Is GPS that bad or are these weird stories only due to lack of attention?
It is so strange to see this number of GPS tragedies.
GPS isnt that bad at all. You follow the road and it will say *turn left in 300 meters* so you get in the left lane and look for the road.
If you miss it it will take you a different route.
Not hard, if i had followed EXACTLY where my gps told me i would of ended up in the side of a house by now.
I dont really understand how they get them selves into these situations, when my gps says turn left i dont yell "shiiiiiit" and turn my wheel all the way and hope for the best.
The GPS just sets up a habit of listening to it and doing what it says. I use a GPS a fair bit and while I haven't yet actually driven off a cliff, I have found myself driving into weird places trusting that the GPS map actually was going to take me to where I was going. It does happen that sometimes the GPS chooses a way that is off the beaten path but turns out to be marginally shorter than going via the main roads only.
Obviously driving off a cliff because the GPS said so is extreme, but after months of listening to the box telling you to go left, go right, take the exit etc you begin to trust that it will get you where you are going and get complacent about checking for yourself. So, going off a cliff is an extreme case but I've seen similar tendencies from time to time in myself (giving the GPS the benefit of the doubt while it leads me down a road that doesn't really seem to make sense. In some cases it didn't make sense... so I turned instead of going over the cliff. ;)
I never really have the sound turned on on my GPS. I just put in the place I;m going, set it in the mount, and use it as sort of a guide. If any directions take me somewhere I don't want to or think is right, I don't go that way. The GPS is a aid to me, not a 100% correct device that I should follow 100%.
I've been in this situation. Your GPS is the one person who understands you, who talks to you, who you trust. I had a GPS, and we got on great for 18 months. Turns out it was a Cylon, and it tried to drive me off a bridge onto Stockton Blvd below. Fortunately the guardrail held, and I was able to terminate the unit after a struggle.
Did you notice that the name of the Town can be translated into German in the following way?:
Tod = Death
morden (verb) = to murder
Not bad for an escape into nirvana, right?
So, really, the GPS did a very good job of trying to get him where he wanted to go. In future, he should avoid German-made GPS systems, or driving to places like Valhalla, Hades, Heaven, Himmel, and so on.
I was thinking this myself and thought it to be a joke. But the name is real! Its like this Place in Netherlands which is called Sexbierum (german for SexBee(r)Rum)...
"In 100 meters, continue through the fence."
"drive 4 meters off cliff....continue to fall...recalculating...."
Oh please
1) The track he was trying to drive down USED to be a road
2) It was hardly a cliff
3) He didn't nearly die.
I have lots of family in Todmorden and know the area very well.
I have to wonder what on earth is wrong with these people... And their navigation systems. The UK is NOT that big. It should NOT be that much trouble to confirm that the system is navigating properly.
I rely probably quite heavily on my navi, but a) I`m not so stupid as to believe it knows all... And b) It has yet to screw up so hideously. The only time it`s really been severely wrong has been when there was a bridge closed (Followed in it in that direction, but noticed the million signs telling everyone the bridge was out of service and had no trouble and CHANGED MY ROUTE.) or there was a new road which hadn`t yet been added to the map.(Which was simply a matter of paying attention to the signs that pointed out the new more direct road.)
There is something seriously wrong with these maps and systems if they are sending you down roads which don`t even exist.
only in the UK. The driver probably thought it was 'a disgrace' after climbing out of his car.
Maybe he should start to make use of his eyes more.
Who needs eyes when you have GPS?
why does this happen more commonly in the UK?
it happens in the rest of the world - but isn't reported? or the GPS maps in the UK are inaccurate?
it's because physical comedy is still more prevalent in the UK
BMW's are german cars,
Todmorden can be translated from German as Deathmurders
Apologies - in my haste to post my local knowledge I failed to spot jaeger.robert's post above.
Please consider myself suitably humble and embarassed.
We're a subservient nation. We like instructions and rules and queuing. That would have been quite a death for a brit.
I take it he was using BMW's iDrive Sat Nav? Even with bad directions, you have to look where the hell you're going. Dumb@ss.
There's a road near me that is oldschool cobles (not the 1800s style city cobles but the 1500s country cobles) and it's stupid how many people i've seen drive down it wrecking their suspension following GPS instead of driving a couple of hundred yards further to find the tarmac road to the same place.
Why-oh-why do we NEVER get the name of the SatNav manufacturer (e.g. TomTom, Garmin, Navtech) when idiots like this are reported?
If we did, then I feel that it would make the map and satnav manufacturers get their finger out on real map updates.
I do have an axe to grin re satnavs. My VERY expensive new satnav, with all the bells and whistles, has a torturous problem which has been giving me a headache since purchase (AND further paying for a service which only half works). The conversations - via email - to their 'support help' are a nightmare of them failing to understand English (they are an English outfit owned by a manufacturer who has a fully English website), and a torturous method of contact. Their website is a lesson on how not to design a website for easy access and obvious support contact - aren't they all? Website 'designers' in my book are the curse of the twentyfirst century, All equipped with monster screens (so much being off the usual screen size, but who cares? Strange attitudes/opinions on just what an unaccustomed user needs to do to get information - and worst of all the BIG curse, the 'Answers to Frequently Asked Questions' which never contain the answer you want. Well, they wouldn't would they? How the hell do you know what is in someone else's head? Or. How do they phrase the question? The oldest fact in teaching is that teach a topic to 30 people in a room and they will view it 30 different ways. Put a problem on a computer and that will be viewed in many thousands of different ways by however many see it.
I'm not saying these people are dim - but unthinking? don't know how to think?
Undoubtedly!
It doesnt matter who makes it, its there to give you general guidance, the rest is up to you to use your common sense.
Before Sat Nav and online directions, people used to use real paper maps, and at times still got in to these screw ups, but not quiet as often. Simply because people used their brain, and the map is much clearer telling you what the road is like before you get your self in trouble.
Have you seen the commercial for the new Lexus heads up display? It has all the turn arrows and directions of a GPS, but right in front of your face on the windshield.
The pathetic nature of humans who increasingly "need" this stuff is remarkably disturbing.
It's not that we "need" anything. Just like we don't "need" our computers and cellphones. It's that once you get accustomed to a certain way of life it's hard to go back. I'm sure there's a few things you need that someone else would feel is completely unnecessary.
it isn't over a cliff, it is a hairpin bend which I guess he took way too fast, crashed into the fence and blamed the GPS...
look at the map
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=53.704501,-2.110236&spn=0.000626,0.001674&z=20
Doesnt look the same to me...unless those skylights are new in the above photo(compared to no skylights in the sat map).
zoom out a little Slavko, and you will see the long building with a grey roof with 8 chimneys and 8 skylights... it is the same one as the photo..; also with a row of small roofs behind it. If you cant correlate the map to the photo, maybe you should stay away from GPS too.
Ahh I see now. That building looks closer in the article photo. And although not a 'cliff', there appears to be some significant difference in elevation, have you driven this road?
GPS ON = BRAIN OFF
Fun fact: Todmorden means loosly translated "death-murdering" in German :)
Maybe the town wants the man dead...
Again this reminds me of that one episode of The Office when Michael is with Dwight in the car and the GPS tells him to take a left into a lake and Dwight tells him technology is inadequate, but Michael still drives into the lake.
Yes because that bit was obviously written based on such newsitems, duh
In the GPS pack not have to be optional de common sense chip
I hope these things stop happening before some idiot in Washington decides to ban GPS while driving.....
haha, you have a keen grasp of politics.
Always use some common sense when you use a GPS!
Actually this doesnt happen in US, if ever, no one can afford Nav system let alone a Nav with a BMW. Do to our poor economy people have started to use their brain more often now.
How do you mistake a FOOT PATH for a road? What a douche! The reporter that got this to be put out world wide is a douche as well.
A quick heads-up, people: You still need to look at the road occasionally.
Did anybody make the Doctor Who link, yet?
I did!!!!! Lol, now we've just got to wait for our cars to pour out tons of poison gas (more than they already do) .
For some reason people seem forget that GPS tech is merely a tool to make life easier. It´s definitely not a substitute for a brain.
Why does it seem that Brits are uniquely incapable of using common sense.
Passing bad judgment I know, but all I have to say is these people should be forced to drive Pintos. Cars like M5 are saving these people's lives..... these people endanger our lives everyday. We need to let natural selection work.
Lastly all you jacka$$ out there they leave the gas station w/ pump embedded inside your gas tank. This too needs attention of natural selection. For gawd sakes we need less stupid people on the road!
Thats what you get when you forget to take it off TOPO map setting