Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/9News
Navigation solutions, be they built-in sat-nav or mobile applications like Google Maps, Waze, and Apple Maps, have become must-have driving companions for too many people.
The one thing these apps have in common isn't necessarily their ability to get you from point A to point B faster and more conveniently but also a limitation that makes a huge difference between going home safely and spending hours in the middle of nowhere waiting for help.
The driver of a Subaru Outback recently learned a very important GPS lesson after he got his car stuck in the sand. He claims he followed the instructions provided by the sat-nav software in his car, going on the shoreline of Gold Coast's Miami Beach until the vehicle could no longer get out.
The man says he was going home from storm-chasing, so he uses the navigation solution to get directions to the destination. It was 2 AM, so the visibility was significantly reduced. However, the man still trusted the sat-nav blindly, so he took a wrong turn, "went nose in," as he explains to the local media), and that was it.
The Queensland driver found himself all alone on the beach, so when he called for help, he was told it'd take six hours for roadside assistance teams to help him. He decided to stay in the car and wait until the next morning to get the car out of the sand.
The Gold Coast Council has already issued a $770 fine for parking on the beach, but the authorities decided to put the penalty on hold until the police figure out what happened. The man's excuse apparently worked, as the council believes he didn't actually park on the beach but got led to the shoreline by faulty GPS.
Similar blunders happen occasionally, and while I admit that sat-nav software has its own share of guilt, drivers are the ones carrying full responsibility. Blindly trusting what the application in your car says can have serious consequences, especially when driving in a region you're not familiar with. Drivers sometimes end up in rivers, on closed roads, or on unpaved streets because they believe the satellite navigation knows better than the road signs.
Traffic authorities recommend drivers pay full attention to road signage and ignore satellite navigation, especially when leaving main roads. Not long ago, a driver in the United Kingdom followed the sat-nav directions to end up on a bridleway where the vehicle got stuck in the mud. The driver called the emergency teams for help but still had to wait several hours in freezing temperatures until they determined their location. The car was recovered the next day when the local emergency teams could deploy a towing vehicle at the scene.
The driver of a Subaru Outback recently learned a very important GPS lesson after he got his car stuck in the sand. He claims he followed the instructions provided by the sat-nav software in his car, going on the shoreline of Gold Coast's Miami Beach until the vehicle could no longer get out.
The man says he was going home from storm-chasing, so he uses the navigation solution to get directions to the destination. It was 2 AM, so the visibility was significantly reduced. However, the man still trusted the sat-nav blindly, so he took a wrong turn, "went nose in," as he explains to the local media), and that was it.
The Queensland driver found himself all alone on the beach, so when he called for help, he was told it'd take six hours for roadside assistance teams to help him. He decided to stay in the car and wait until the next morning to get the car out of the sand.
The Gold Coast Council has already issued a $770 fine for parking on the beach, but the authorities decided to put the penalty on hold until the police figure out what happened. The man's excuse apparently worked, as the council believes he didn't actually park on the beach but got led to the shoreline by faulty GPS.
Similar blunders happen occasionally, and while I admit that sat-nav software has its own share of guilt, drivers are the ones carrying full responsibility. Blindly trusting what the application in your car says can have serious consequences, especially when driving in a region you're not familiar with. Drivers sometimes end up in rivers, on closed roads, or on unpaved streets because they believe the satellite navigation knows better than the road signs.
Traffic authorities recommend drivers pay full attention to road signage and ignore satellite navigation, especially when leaving main roads. Not long ago, a driver in the United Kingdom followed the sat-nav directions to end up on a bridleway where the vehicle got stuck in the mud. The driver called the emergency teams for help but still had to wait several hours in freezing temperatures until they determined their location. The car was recovered the next day when the local emergency teams could deploy a towing vehicle at the scene.
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