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I wonder how many wrong-way driving accidents are the result of GPS?

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apples and oranges Donating Member (772 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:06 PM
Original message
I wonder how many wrong-way driving accidents are the result of GPS?
Today I was almost wrecked when my Garmin unit led me down a one way street in the wrong direction.
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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. GPS, like maps, are guidance systems. Anyone who relies on them beyond common sense
is foolish. Being aware of signs, traffic, etc, takes precedence over blindly following a gps.
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arcadian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:21 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. THIS ^^^
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Codeine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:18 PM
Response to Original message
2. I'm assuming there were signs.
Only idiots "drive by dashboard."

Put bluntly -- not one single wrong-way accident is the result of GPS. Not one. Nada. Nil. Zilch. Zero. They are the result of idiot drivers going the wrong way in defiance of arrows, signage, and common sense.
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RaleighNCDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:32 PM
Response to Reply #2
11. Hey, you don't know -
maybe it is foggy and he was flying in on instruments.
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Codeine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:34 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. Surely you're joking.
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RaleighNCDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:16 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. I'm quite serious...
and don't call me Shirley.
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bigwillq Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:20 PM
Response to Original message
3. You didn't notice a one-way, wrong way sign?
:shrug:
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MattBaggins Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:20 PM
Response to Original message
4. This really happened to me
Edited on Tue Mar-23-10 01:21 PM by MattBaggins
Down a five lane highway.

"move into far left lane"
"now turn right"

ruh-roh
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stubtoe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:21 PM
Response to Original message
6. You know, that's a very good question.
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Dappleganger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:22 PM
Response to Original message
7. They make me nervous.
I like to print out google maps first, then turn on the gps and just use it as a guideline. There's so much new construction in FL that either one is often wrong.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:23 PM
Response to Original message
8. Those would be accidents caused by not looking.
The GPS is not driving the car. It's a fancy map. Maps rarely show one-ways, and we don't blame Thomas Guides for people driving up the wrong street because they don't know where they're going.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:28 PM
Response to Reply #8
20. maps don't tell you to turn right, either.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #20
22. People holding them do. Sometimes they're wrong.
A couple of years ago I was driving a friend to work after dinner in a city I hadn't visited before. Since he lived there he gave me directions, and sent me the wrong way up a one way street. He doesn't drive, so he sent me the way he'd go on his bike. Luckily it was an industrial area after dark, and no other cars were around, but I learned my lesson about trusting anybody else's instructions over my own eyes.

The driver is responsible for paying attention to where they're headed. Always.
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kestrel91316 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
9. Serves you right for disregarding street signs. PUT THE GARMIN DOWN,
PUT THE CELL PHONE DOWN, AND DRIVE.
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The River Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
10. Like All New Technologies
early versions can be bug filled and prone to error.

I'm one of those analog oldies who only needs the sun
to navigate or tell time.
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stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:47 PM
Response to Original message
13. Maybe a warning sign: "Do not disengage brain" is needed
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Romulox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 01:49 PM
Response to Original message
14. Garmin + Camry = Oh God no! nt
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leftofcool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #14
17. LOL!
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:17 PM
Response to Original message
16. None.
Wrong-way driving accidents are the result of human error.

Don't blame your GPS, you screwed up.
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quinnox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:22 PM
Response to Original message
18. Its not an error free device
Edited on Tue Mar-23-10 02:25 PM by quinnox
We were on vacation in a Canadian city and the directions the Garmin gave us were hilarious and led us on a wild goose chase that went nowhere close to what the correct route should have been.

Always use an old fashioned map and look where you are going to confirm the Garmin directions, and you can tell it to give you an alternate route if it is behaving stupidly.
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PBS Poll-435 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:26 PM
Response to Original message
19. Life imitates Art
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lbrtbell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:35 PM
Response to Original message
21. Don't laugh
I don't have a GPS system, but I was on a two-way street that abruptly turned one-way. To make matters worse, there was no place to turn off, so I was forced to stay on it for a couple of blocks. Thank God there was very little traffic...and no cop around.

There are many places where signs are either covered by trees or other objects, or (as in my case) the signs just don't exist. Whether due to bad planning or an accident taking out the sign, I don't know. All I know is, I'm a safe, intelligent driver (never use the phone while driving, etc.), and things can happen to anybody.
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Rebubula Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-23-10 02:37 PM
Response to Original message
23. LOLZ...
...'LED YOU'????


:rofl:





(wipes tears from eyes)....glad no one was hurt, but seriously there is nothing I can add to the other posters in this thread.


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