Photo: North West Motorway Police
We’ve known for a while that navigation apps are super-useful and make it a lot more convenient and faster to reach a specific destination. However, they’re not always the most accurate.
Unfortunately, some people found this out the hard way, as it was the case of the two young Russians we told you about a few months ago. They ended up on an abandoned road after following Google Maps, with one of them eventually freezing to death in brutally cold weather.
But despite these accuracy errors, navigation apps never tell you to go in reverse on a motorway. That’s dangerous and potentially fatal, and this is why sat nav systems never, but never, do that.
And yet, the driver of a van thought that blaming the navigation system in his car would help him escape without a ticket after being caught going in reverse on the M6 motorway in the United Kingdom.
The North West Motorway Police says they spotted the driver reversing on the motorway and the other cars struggling to avoid him close to exit 18. When stopped by the police and asked what he was doing, the man said he was just following his navigation system, which apparently told him to reverse on a motorway.
In reality, however, the driver missed his exit at junction 18. If he was indeed using a navigation app, most likely that one had re-routed already and instructed the man to leave the motorway at the next exit. And given that would have meant a pretty substantial detour, going in reverse sounded like a pretty good idea.
In case you’re wondering, as it looks like so many people on Twitter are, the van was empty, so it wasn’t transporting any goods, according to the police. But in the end, the driver still received a graduated fixed penalty notice from the officer who stopped him.
But despite these accuracy errors, navigation apps never tell you to go in reverse on a motorway. That’s dangerous and potentially fatal, and this is why sat nav systems never, but never, do that.
And yet, the driver of a van thought that blaming the navigation system in his car would help him escape without a ticket after being caught going in reverse on the M6 motorway in the United Kingdom.
The North West Motorway Police says they spotted the driver reversing on the motorway and the other cars struggling to avoid him close to exit 18. When stopped by the police and asked what he was doing, the man said he was just following his navigation system, which apparently told him to reverse on a motorway.
In reality, however, the driver missed his exit at junction 18. If he was indeed using a navigation app, most likely that one had re-routed already and instructed the man to leave the motorway at the next exit. And given that would have meant a pretty substantial detour, going in reverse sounded like a pretty good idea.
In case you’re wondering, as it looks like so many people on Twitter are, the van was empty, so it wasn’t transporting any goods, according to the police. But in the end, the driver still received a graduated fixed penalty notice from the officer who stopped him.
Vehicle seen by the RVCU Sgt to reverse along live lane on the M6 as they had overshot their exit at jct 18
— North West Motorway Police (@NWmwaypolice) May 25, 2021
This forced others to take evasive action
Stopped and spoke with the driver who said he was following his GPS
GFPN issued #opvertebrae #RCVU pic.twitter.com/Jvwwpgbxy8
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