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Wrong-Way BMW Driver Says He Was Just Following His Navigation App

As weird as it may sound, wrong-way drivers are becoming a bigger concern these days, as for some reason, an increasing number of people can’t figure out the correct direction on a highway.
Some authorities turn to road signs to tell drivers they're going the wrong way 1 photo
Photo: Las Vegas Sun
Earlier this week, for example, a BMW driver entered the M6 near Tebay on the wrong way, and he just continued traveling in the same direction in the third lane.

While no specifics have been provided as to why the BMW 1 Series driver didn’t pull over when he noticed cars coming towards him, the local police responded quickly to an emergency call to set speed restrictions between junctions 38 and 39 before eventually managing to intercept the driver and prevent another tragedy from happening.

When asked by law enforcement why he was driving the wrong way, the BMW owner put the blame on the navigation app, saying his satnav is the one who sent it in the bad direction on the highway.

While at first glance it sounds unbelievable that some people can’t figure out they’re driving the wrong way on a highway, especially with incoming traffic, trusting navigation apps blindly is something that more and more people do.

But on the other hand, this is not necessarily the case this time. Navigation apps do have impressive accuracy these days, but on a two-way highway, determining where you are precisely is often impossible.

So as long as you’re in a specific perimeter going in a direction suggested by the navigation app, the software assumes you’re not traveling the wrong way and continues to provide instructions to guide you to the defined destination.

The name of the navigation app the BMW driver was using wasn’t revealed, but of course, this wouldn’t change anything anyway because most of them are based on the same approach and can’t accurately make a difference between the two ways of a high-speed road like the M6.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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