Cyclist Blaming Navigation App for Riding Along a Highway Signals a Growing Problem

Not only do they help find a specific destination more conveniently, but thanks to their extra features, including live traffic data, these applications also help drivers go from where they are to where they want to be much faster.

Waze is just the perfect example in this regard. Thanks to its crowdsourcing engine, Waze can collect information about what’s happening on the road in real-time, therefore being able to find routes more accurately.

But all of these points are valid if the navigation apps in question are used just the way they are supposed to be used.

And a recent example from the United Kingdom proves exactly why.

First and foremost, let’s review the facts. A cyclist entered the M62 and continued to ride along the motorway until he was stopped by the police.

The Merseyside Police Roads Policing Unit revealed on Twitter that the cyclist blamed the navigation app for being there, essentially claiming that the likes of Google Maps instructed him to enter the highway and then ride along the road, inches away from vehicles that were obviously going a lot faster.

The officers took the cyclist off the highway and fined him.

The police tweet, however, signals a growing problem for motorists, not only in the United Kingdom but also everywhere else across the world. The man “left his common sense at home,” the police say, and without a doubt, this is perfectly true.

While navigation apps come in so handy for most people on the road, they could end up becoming a double-edged sword, especially when not used right. And this is precisely what happened in this case.

There’s a very good chance the man was using either Google Maps or Waze to find a better cycling route. While Waze is only intended to be used by drivers (passenger cars only), Google Maps also includes a cycling mode to suggest faster biking routes.

Given the man ended up on the highway, he was most likely using the standard Google Maps navigation aimed at cars and not the one dedicated to bicycles. As a result, he was provided with a route that makes sense for a car.

This is precisely where the problem resides.

Too many people on the road have no idea how these navigation apps work, and they end up taking everything they say for granted. This is how some drivers find themselves in the middle of nowhere after following the directions of their satnav, even if the road ahead doesn’t seem suitable for their vehicles. Truck drivers also get stuck on narrow streets every once in a while, once again because they use Google Maps or Waze, despite the two lacking a dedicated mode for larger vehicles.

Others follow the directions of the navigation software blindly, ignore the road signs, and end up going the wrong way on the highway. Once again, it all happens because these people aren’t necessarily tech-savvy and don’t understand how GPS positioning works, eventually taking the directions provided by the likes of Google Maps for granted.

Without a doubt, people who misuse navigation software become a growing concern all over the world, and at first glance, there’s not much to do other than educate them on how to actually use these applications correctly. And more often than not, the ones that could do this easily are none other than the companies that develop the software, either with more detailed step-by-step tutorials or warnings displayed when an incorrect use of the app is detected.