Don’t rely too heavily on the Sat-Nav…

HAL9000 · October 2023

As per title…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67032246

surely there must have been a point before the car got firmly wedged where most people would have twigged that things weren’t going well?

Kittyfrisk · October 2023

Never underestimate the stupidity of people, or their ability to follow stupid orders...

Sporky · October 2023

They should have listened to one of my brother's top driving tips - "going slower doesn't make the gap wider".

Though he tended to drive rather quickly, so probably meant something very different.

dano · October 2023

Americans. Its their right to follow a sat nav blindly and blame someone else, and if you disagree they'll resort to guns.

Tannin · October 2023

Not so long ago my 90-something-year-old father and I drove up to a fairly remote town to visit an old friend. Now my father is a retired airline pilot who started on Tiger Moths and came up through DC3s, DC4s, Friendships and Viscounts, to 727s and DC9s. He knows all about sextants and navigation by the stars and that stuff.Me, I'm a computer guy, though I've spent the last 20 years travelling outback. . So we drove up through this unknown country, sharing the navigation,.

One of us was perfectly at home looking at the landscape, following the river, paying attention to the lay of the land. The other one was logging into Google maps and using the satnav.

Funny thing was, he was the satnav guy, I was the "stay west of the river and strike out north from there" chap.

Between us, we got there.

Grunfeld · October 2023

Kittyfrisk said:

Never underestimate the stupidity of people, or their ability to follow stupid orders...

I agree, but for me it's also kind of interesting when I see people who are basically driving their life down a narrow alley and getting stuck because they are following some kind of rule they learned when they were about 7 or whatever. And they get out of the situation... and do it all again.

Rule-following behaviour can save us a lot of time but it also accounts for a lot of problems.

ICBM · October 2023

HAL9000 said:

surely there must have been a point before the car got firmly wedged where most people would have twigged that things weren’t going well?

The bit that really makes me laugh is "The walls were touching on both sides of the car. They got it wedged and they just put more power on."

It would be interesting to see the state of it now, and what the insurance company say...

Danny1969 · October 2023

I almost got stuck in a narrow street in Cornwall following my sat nav ... I could see there was no way the car would fit though so thought better and had to reverse it all the way back. Luckily I'm used to reversing large vans so wasn't too hard a job getting the Focus back up.

A family in America is currently suing Google Maps because they never updated the fact a bridge had broken and he plunged to his death following the route in his car.

Sassafras · October 2023

How did they get the doors open wide enough to get out of the car?

ICBM · October 2023

Sassafras said:

How did they get the doors open wide enough to get out of the car?

They must have climbed out through the windows, unless the tailgate has an internal release.

I had to do that when I was putting a large car into storage in an old and very small garage - not enough room to open the door wide enough to get out, but enough to climb out through the window.

Kittyfrisk · October 2023

ICBM said:

Sassafras said:

How did they get the doors open wide enough to get out of the car?

They must have climbed out through the windows, unless the tailgate has an internal release.

I had to do that when I was putting a large car into storage in an old and very small garage - not enough room to open the door wide enough to get out, but enough to climb out through the window.

Try putting a car into the 'garage' of almost any new house built in the last 10 years & you will be in the same situation.
Drive in, not get out.

AK99 · October 2023

I nearly had a car-gap interface issue with a hired 'executive class saloon' (might have been a VW Passat from memory) and a Sat-Nav trying to direct us to an hotel in the old part of Grenada a couple of years back. As we left the newer part of town and started to wind through the twisty little alley-ways of the old town, it became ever more apparent that the sat-nav's view of what was navigable and the physical reality were not at one.

I eventually chickened out and had to reverse back once I got to the point where both mirrors were touching the walls on either side (and began to wonder if I'd ever make it back).

About a month later at home, I then got notice of a fixed price traffic violation fine from the hire car company for being caught on camera entering 'the old-town no car-zone'. Fkn sat navs...

Sporky · October 2023

Danny1969 said:

Luckily I'm used to reversing large vans so wasn't too hard a job getting the Focus back up.

I'm often amazed how bad people are at reversing. It's as if they never practiced it, and don't understand how the steering works when they're going backwards.

Keiko · October 2023

It's a Nissan. Say no more.

Cranky · October 2023

I reckon they were following the walking directions on their phone app. I know if I’m close to a spot my phone almost insists that I’m walking not driving.

Still, I love imagining them punching the gas thinking they might power through, like the path will open back up in just a few inches.

Sassafras · October 2023

ICBM said:

Sassafras said:

How did they get the doors open wide enough to get out of the car?

They must have climbed out through the windows, unless the tailgate has an internal release.

I had to do that when I was putting a large car into storage in an old and very small garage - not enough room to open the door wide enough to get out, but enough to climb out through the window.

Out of the window, are you joking?
They're Americans, no windows I know of are big enough for that!

Emp_Fab · October 2023

The Tesco's near my place of work has recently had the car park done. It's all newly tarmacked and painted. There's a stone paved pedestrian walkway that goes through the car park direct to the store entrance. It's protected by bollards along its length.

In the past few weeks I've seen two drivers turn into the pedestrian walkway, somehow manage to not run over anyone, then try to do a 98-point turn outside the store doors as it dawns on them that bit isn't meant for cars.

Sassafras · October 2023

I always take the most direct route to the shops:

Image: https://s.hdnux.com/photos/53/24/50/11356687/5/1200x0.jpg

Kittyfrisk · October 2023

^ Drink! Drink! Drink!

Jimbro66 · October 2023

Cranky said:

Still, I love imagining them punching the gas thinking they might power through, like the path will open back up in just a few inches.

There’s never a Moses around when you need one.

They’ve probably claimed diplomatic immunity and headed back to Murica by now.

WezV · October 2023

My town is split in half by a river and wide flood plain.

We have a couple of bridges for cars, and one long footbridge that's about half a mile long. It has bollards both ends. There is an access ramp for workers halfway down, but you need to drive off road to even get to that bit.

So I was very surprised to see this on my walk home one night. They eventually realised there was no way through and had to reverse all the way back.

mart · October 2023

Jimbro66 said:
...
They’ve probably claimed diplomatic immunity and headed back to Murica by now.

They certainly left town quickly: "abandoning the car to catch a train to their hotel."

Danny1969 said:

....
A family in America is currently suing Google Maps because they never updated the fact a bridge had broken and he plunged to his death following the route in his car.
...

I saw that story and initially thought the family were being ridiculous. But the bridge collapsed over 10 years ago, and google had been told about the collapse at least 3 years ago. That is getting to the point where I feel google ought to be held slightly accountable, at least.

ICBM · October 2023

mart said:

I saw that story and initially thought the family were being ridiculous. But the bridge collapsed over 10 years ago, and google had been told about the collapse at least 3 years ago. That is getting to the point where I feel google ought to be held slightly accountable, at least.

So did I until I saw the circumstances - but the man was driving at night in bad weather and may not have had enough time to react to a totally unexpected hazard like that. The real liability should lie with the owners of the land who failed to put adequate warnings up or block the road - but the family's lawyers probably think that Google has deeper pockets, and I agree that after three years and at least a couple of warnings, they should have not shown it as an open road.

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Don’t rely too heavily on the Sat-Nav…

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