GPS, Another UK driver nearly dies from following GPS instructions
By Darren Murph 
posted March 26th 2009 2:41AM
posted March 26th 2009 2:41AM
[Via Switched, thanks Alan]
GPS, posted March 26th 2009 2:41AM
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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