Our GPS tried to kill us today

[Jean in Newcastle]

The kids are trying to tell me that;it did not have malicious forethought.  I'm still not convinced.  We were on the way to my nephew's wedding at a posh country club.  This is in an area we've never been to before so I had no reason not to take the GPS at face value when it told us to turn down a paved road. . . that soon turned to a dirt road. . . which seemed odd because I couldn't imagine nice cars going down this.  Then the dirt road turned into an off-road adventure that had my kids whooping and hollering even though I was taking it as slowly as I could. The thing is, there was nowhere to turn around without tearing out the undercarriage of my car.  The washboard road came out to a canal. . . which the GPS merrily told me to cross!  I did not know what to do.  I really did not want to put the car through the off-road experience again and backtrack and the canal did have a nice gravel road running along it.  So I turned onto the gravel road and drove and drove and drove, keeping distant power lines in my sight as a sign of civilization.  The thing is, once I was on that gravel road, there was no place to turn around here either.  I was committed.  After we drove for miles along the canal we came out to a nice paved road that we were kept from turning on by a padlocked gate.  There was no way to turn around, no way to go forward.  I was honestly getting ready to call 9-1-1 and ask for someone to come get us out of this predicament when the kids saw that there were tire tracks that went off the gravel road and around the gate and onto the road.  The only problem was that there were volcanic boulders and logs blocking the way that this other stuck car had gone.  So we got out of the car and moved all the rocks and logs.  I'm really glad that ds16 was there because some of it would have been too much for dd and me.  So we managed to drive around the gate and on to the road and the GPS popped up again with directions that made sense and got us there.  We were 20 minutes late and I thought we had missed most of the ceremony but they were delayed starting and we made it just when the first of the wedding party was walking down the aisle!  

[beaners]

Skynet became self-aware.....?

[Sparkle]

:grouphug: Wow, what an adventure! Google Maps has tried to do that to me once or twice.

[Starr]

Jean that's tops the cake. What an adventure! I was afraid it would end with you being hours late to the wedding. 

[happymomofboys]

Wow!  What an adventure!  I'm glad you safely made it.

 

One time my husband followed the GPS and it told him to go down a path similar to what you describe... no way to turn around... no pavement... and he ended up driving over a branch and causing damage to the radiator.  That was no fun!  

 

Another time we were were traveling near Lake Ontario and decided to look for a place to stop and see it up close.  The GPS told us to follow a road that went through a campground.  Well, it turned out that driving through that part of the campground was forbidden and the road was blocked off, though the GPS was insisting that we go that way.  We drove around and never did find another route to the location we were looking for, but we did manage to find a different spot where we stopped to see the lake and take pictures just as the sun was setting over the water.  It was beautiful.

[tex-mex]

Jean,

OMGoodness!! I'm glad you did not get stranded. :grouphug: That is something you need for a fictional book or comedic movie plot. Wowzers.

[bodiesmom]

Oh.my.word our GPS is NOT our friend as of late.

 

Jean-I'm glad you made it safely to the wedding. I'm sorry you became a victim of the evil antics of the GPS. We had a very similar experience two years ago complete with the dirt road and everything...and eventually no cell service. Thankfully we made it to our destination with no troubles... Then just last week we had another "detour" thanks to our trust in that darn thing...it took us straight up a mountain road that we later learned trailers weren't advised on. There was NOWHERE to turn around with our trailer in tow and let's just say I was scrambling for my Xanax as that road was narrow. Very narrow.

 

Sigh....oh the joys of technology. I think it is back to the basics of the good ol' road map for us.

D

[myfunnybunch]

My father has a video of himself driving along a very narrow winding road with a sheer drop into a very deep canyon to the left....and the GPS telling him to turn left.

 

I'm glad you made it safely to the wedding! That sounds scary!

[Saraswati]

Oh no! This happened to me last spring, except I was hauling a 20ft camper trailer. I had to back out! That took some time and patience!

[Amy in NH]

We had a similar experience earlier this summer.  It's always an adventure!

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one with a maniacal GPS system with plans to overtake the world!  

[Vida Winter]

We had a similar experience the other day in Virginia when we were trying to get to the airport (no pressure, really). GPS took us on a dirt road for miles; road gets narrower and narrower and eventually just ENDS at a fallen tree and ravine. Somehow we got turned around and barely made our flight. Grrrr. It'll make a funny family story one day.

[Elfknitter.#]

I watched a local news repot last night about how faulty GPS systems can sometimes be. Basically it came down to old maps/data and/or software glitches. This isn't the article, but same idea: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/automotive/gps-system-wrong-direction.htm

 

I also heard a story in that report of a woman whose home was repossessed while on vacation. The repo men used GPS to find what they thought was the home in foreclosure. The locks were changed and many furnishings stripped. Turns out, it should have been her neighbor across the street instead. Now she's fighting to get compensation for all her furniture and misc items from the bank. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/ohio-womans-home-mistaken-foreclosed-property-cleared/t/story?id=19773182

[lynn]

Yeah, I don't always trust our GPS.    We went through one area all I could think of was "Deliverance" but we got back to the main roads of the town.   DH is always up for an adventure which sometimes  scares me.    

[Tenaj]

I also learned the hard way about evil GPS units.  I was in Northern Michigan driving home in our 15-passenger van with my 8 kidlets in an early spring snowstorm.  The GPS led us onto a nice paved, snowplowed road that turned into a dirt road then an un-snowplowed dirt road with about 5 inches of snow on top.  The ditches were pretty deep on both sides so I wasn't confident in trying to turn the big van around.  Eventually that road ended in a "T" intersection at the top of a hill.  I stopped so I could turn right as the GPS was telling us to do but then couldn't get any traction to get the van going again.  There were still deep ditches on all sides and here I am sliding around in a 15 passenger van.  My oldest at the time was about 14 and all we had with us was a ice scraper so he got out and hacked at the ice under the wheels.  Eventually we got going, turned around and ignored the GPS until we were back in civilization.

 

The weird thing was that two 4-wheel drive vehicles went past us in this process and each time I was sure that the drivers would stop to see if they could help but they just drove by gawking at us.  I must have been a suspicious figure in my out-of-state van full of kids - LOL!

 

 

[Melissa in Australia]

Here it is on the news all the time about city people finding themselves marooned way in the bush because they followed their GPS blindly. Many times they have become stranded because they have run out of fuel, or got bogged, or wedged their car in a non-existent road in the mountains. there was even one recently where a person drove their car right into a lake! I sort of wondered if he was looking at the road at all.

 

[creekland]

Glad you made it and all turned out reasonably well in the end!

 

My mom tried to use her GPS to get here.  It wanted to send her over a washed out bridge.  She thought better of it and gave us a call instead.  The bridge washed out in a hurricane back in '72 or '73...

 

We have to correct many folks who think they are just going to use GPS to get here.  Besides the bridge it likes to send folks down a private drive thinking that will come out to our road.  It doesn't.

[OhanaBee]

Glad you made it and all turned out reasonably well in the end!

 

My mom tried to use her GPS to get here.  It wanted to send her over a washed out bridge.  She thought better of it and gave us a call instead.  The bridge washed out in a hurricane back in '72 or '73...

 

We have to correct many folks who think they are just going to use GPS to get here.  Besides the bridge it likes to send folks down a private driving thinking that will come out to our road.  It doesn't.

 

I can't tell you how many of our dinner guests over the years trust their GPS rather than our instructions which start out "Please don't trust the GPS!  You will be led onto a dirt drive which ends at a river!"

 

So many times we get calls from folks saying, "My GPS is telling me to cross the river.  Is there a bridge or something?"  I don't know if there ever was a bridge there.  I do know that locals in high 4WDs can ford the river at that point when the water level is low.

 

What happened to checking the map before you go someplace?  Am I the last dinosaur who has a physical state map or local map in the back seat of her car?

[Melissa in Australia]

I can't tell you how many of our dinner guests over the years trust their GPS rather than our instructions which start out "Please don't trust the GPS!  You will be led onto a dirt drive which ends at a river!"

 

So many times we get calls from folks saying, "My GPS is telling me to cross the river.  Is there a bridge or something?"  I don't know if there ever was a bridge there.  I do know that locals in high 4WDs can ford the river at that point when the water level is low.

 

What happened to checking the map before you go someplace?  Am I the last dinosaur who has a physical state map or local map in the back seat of her car?

:iagree:

[Onceuponatime]

 

 

What happened to checking the map before you go someplace?  Am I the last dinosaur who has a physical state map or local map in the back seat of her car?

 

 

Map lady here. I don't own a GPS and don't plan on it. Those things irritate me. I hate being told what to do.

 

I was in a car with a bunch of ladies coming home from an away event. The driver was taking me home (to a rural area)  and following her GPS when it told her to do something totally stupid. I started yelling, "No, don't listen to it!" I had driven the correct route  dozens of times and she wants to question me. Luckily she decided to ignore the GPS at the last minute. I have no idea where we would have landed eventually.

[MyThreeSons]

Last year, my brother-in-law flew across the country to attend his nephew's wedding. He and a relative used GPS to try to get to the wedding site, and ended up driving around for so long that they completely missed the wedding. Fortunately, they did make it to the reception, which was at another location.

 

If he had called me, I could have looked up directions for where he wanted to go. It's a very beautiful scenic overlook place with a chapel that is used for lots of weddings. Their website has directions for getting there that specifically include the warning to not use GPS or Mapquest or anything like that.

[Callie]

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one with a maniacal GPS system with plans to overtake the world!  

The GPS is a constant source of discord in my marriage.  Dh loves it and insists that all is well and I am terrified every time we use it.

 

We live in rural Appalachia where there are no shoulders, sharp drops and crazy narrow(only enough room on the road for 1.5 cars) curvy roads.  He uses it to locate cell towers for work and I occasionally go with him.  We have ended up in some really scary places.

[Callie]

 

I also heard a story in that report of a woman whose home was repossessed while on vacation. The repo men used GPS to find what they thought was the home in foreclosure. The locks were changed and many furnishings stripped. Turns out, it should have been her neighbor across the street instead. Now she's fighting to get compensation for all her furniture and misc items from the bank. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/ohio-womans-home-mistaken-foreclosed-property-cleared/t/story?id=19773182

 

It is not surprising.  I live in a very rural location on a farm.  My driveway is 1/4 mile long. You have to cross through two gates. A new meter reader for the electric co-op kept coming to my house wanting to turn off my electric because of a faulty gps reading.

 

He kept insisting he was right because his gps said he was at the correct location.  Even as I was insisting he was wrong he was walking around my home trying to locate the meter.  He finally realized he was at the wrong house, but still returned the next month to do it again.  Thankfully I was home both times.

[hillfarm]

You are brave indeed, to follow your GPS. I chickened out when mine told me to "navigate off road", when I was facing a 60 acre field of moist soil and newly planted soybeans. I knew that I would have probably been stuck before I even got all 4 tires off the road. Who teaches GPS's to say things like "navigate off road" anyway? Shouldn't that be foreign to their nature? I already know how to navigate off road, that's why dh insisted we get a GPS in the first place. He was weary of too many of our trips ending in what I call Adventure Travel.

 

He won't listen to me anymore. He'd prefer to listen to some computerized, monotone female voice giving him bad advice. We named ours EVE, for Electronic Vehicular Elucidator. So if he wants to let Eve get him lost instead of my creative solutions to finding our way....well, there's just not much I can do to help him!

[TeacherZee]

My friend and I had a similar experience once. It was...an adventure :)

[MyThreeSons]

What happened to checking the map before you go someplace?  Am I the last dinosaur who has a physical state map or local map in the back seat of her car?

Another dinosaur here. I am a very visual person, so I like maps. I really want to see the big picture of where I am and where I'm going. I will often use MapQuest online to get their advice and see the overall plan, then check my map or road atlas to verify. I do use GoogleMaps on my phone as a backup, because I don't have a reliable human navigator in my life right now. My son can look ahead and tell me what's coming up -- I don't look at the screen while I'm driving.

[Guest submarines]

I had a similar experience. I was driving into a nature reserve, so when the road turned into a narrow-ish path in the woods but my GPS was confident and chirpy, I thought that maybe it had a point.

 

I ended up driving in reverse for quite some time, after I realised the little black thing was full of it.

 

But let me tell you, it took revenge. The following week, in the dark and rain, on narrow country roads, I came to a T in the road and a huge sign. Arrow to the left and the name of my city in huge letters. Arrow to the right, a promise of an exit to a highway. GPS wanted me to go right. I didn't trust it.

 

Let me tell you, I got to my city, but only very, very eventually.

[HappyLady]

I love these stories!  I can't tell you how many times my GPS has told me to do crazy things like turning left while I'm going 65mph on a thruway and to turn onto train tracks.  My DH and I would always get a good laugh out of the directions she (it was a female voice) gave us.  We'd always ask her if she was drunk.  :)  I've now gone back to printing up directions from the internet.  :)

[City Mouse]

Another GPS hater here. My DH will use it even when he knows the route and the GPS tells him to go a different way.

 

I need to see the big picture first and keep maps in the car.

[Χά�ων]

I had  GPS unit and I still have two on my phone. A friend was convinced I was paranoid because I didn't trust either one. If a turn was not possible due to a road being closed the things would not change route. It kept telling me to turn around. Drives me nuts.

[Callie]

Another GPS hater here. My DH will use it even when he knows the route and the GPS tells him to go a different way.

 

 

 

Must be my dh's long lost brother.  

 

Last week I wanted to stop by the Mennonite store on the way home from a trip.  I know for a fact the route we use passes by the store because we have traveled in this area many times.

 

Dh follows the gps directions and we ended up traveling no where near our usually route.  He is compelled to follow its advice even when we don't need to.

[DarlaS]

My GPS has only once ever steered me wrong. It had me get off and back on the expressway repeatedly. Complete with squealing tires to get ahead of someone at an intersection so I could change lanes. I have no idea what I did, but I did assume the possibility of user error. It still resulted in a terse conversation with the darn thing. My sister was with me and fortunately we found our way.

 

Don't enter an address if you can help it. Search and choose whenever possible. The next time I went to the same place, that's what I did and it was fine. (I have a Garmin--most scary GPS stories seem to involve the Tom Tom.)

 

Google maps, however, has sent me to a shipping and receiving area at a factory when I was looking for an airport. It was Flint Bishop airport, not some rinky-dink out of the way small town hangar.

[FaithManor]

Gps units are demons.

 

Don't use them in our area, they'll just about get you killed taking you down private dirt roads that have hermits living at the end of them armed to the teeth. I'm not kidding. You'd be surprised how many GPS will tell you to trespass in places you ought not to trespass!

 

I named my sister-in-law's Saruman, and my brother's Wormtongue. The names seemed to fit the directions given.

 

But, what really griped my cheese was the other female chaperone on our trip to Virginia with the rocket team. We were trying to get out of Alexandria and I wanted to head out of the d.c. area due west, back the way we came. She was absolutely certain her GPS could save us time and mileage. Of course, she had never been there. I've done the trip numerous times and even have the route memorized, also possessing the most up to date map of the area. Nothing doing. Three hours later we were all of 30 miles from our starting point. GRRRRRRR

 

Maps/road atlases are amazing things and new ones come out every year. Though, I suppose with American's fascination for gadgets, they may soon go the way of the Dodo. I should keep mine. all the lost GPS people can come to my house to consult the maps and find a way home. I could charge for this service and become a millionaire! :D

[Cinder]

He won't listen to me anymore. He'd prefer to listen to some computerized, monotone female voice giving him bad advice. We named ours EVE, for Electronic Vehicular Elucidator. So if he wants to let Eve get him lost instead of my creative solutions to finding our way....well, there's just not much I can do to help him!

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:   This is hilarious! Especially since the original Eve gave bad advice that led a man down the wrong path. Too funny!

[Pippen]

I know this will be shocking, but when I'm traveling to unknown destinations, I sometimes carry a paper map or atlas.

[Tess in the Burbs]

Mine is just stupid.  Often has been turn places that don't exist.  I always try to look at a map before using my gps so I have some idea of real direction. 

 

Glad you didn't just follow into the water :-D

[Wildcat]

What happened to checking the map before you go someplace?  Am I the last dinosaur who has a physical state map or local map in the back seat of her car?

 

No, but we dinosaurs are on the verge of becoming extinct.

 

The GPS is a constant source of discord in my marriage.  Dh loves it and insists that all is well and I am terrified every time we use it.

 

Same here. Dh sticks it in the window even when driving to the vet's office 15 miles away---- a trip I could navigate in the dead of winter on a moonless night.

 

Another GPS hater here. My DH will use it even when he knows the route and the GPS tells him to go a different way.

 

I need to see the big picture first and keep maps in the car.

 

See my reply above. On trips, he watches the GPS and I sit in the passenger seat with the atlas. I have been right many more times than the GPS, but it took a few years for him to accept my map-reading skills over a programmed computer (despite having been married over 15 years when we first got a GPS).

 

My GPS has only once ever steered me wrong. It had me get off and back on the expressway repeatedly. Complete with squealing tires to get ahead of someone at an intersection so I could change lanes. I have no idea what I did, but I did assume the possibility of user error. It still resulted in a terse conversation with the darn thing. My sister was with me and fortunately we found our way.

 

Don't enter an address if you can help it. Search and choose whenever possible. The next time I went to the same place, that's what I did and it was fine. (I have a Garmin--most scary GPS stories seem to involve the Tom Tom.)

 

Google maps, however, has sent me to a shipping and receiving area at a factory when I was looking for an airport. It was Flint Bishop airport, not some rinky-dink out of the way small town hangar.

 

Just last week, our GPS (Garmin with a freshly updated map) told us to 'go straight'. Had we gone straight, we would have driven right through an 1800's era BARN. There was *no road*. It was obviously not a new development, either, so we wondered WTH??!

 

And two weeks ago, when heading to an airport in a distant city, the GPS took us to shipping & receiving rather than the terminal. :confused1:

 

Gps units are demons.

 

Don't use them in our area, they'll just about get you killed taking you down private dirt roads that have hermits living at the end of them armed to the teeth. I'm not kidding. You'd be surprised how many GPS will tell you to trespass in places you ought not to trespass!

 

I named my sister-in-law's Saruman, and my brother's Wormtongue. The names seemed to fit the directions given.

 

But, what really griped my cheese was the other female chaperone on our trip to Virginia with the rocket team. We were trying to get out of Alexandria and I wanted to head out of the d.c. area due west, back the way we came. She was absolutely certain her GPS could save us time and mileage. Of course, she had never been there. I've done the trip numerous times and even have the route memorized, also possessing the most up to date map of the area. Nothing doing. Three hours later we were all of 30 miles from our starting point. GRRRRRRR

 

Maps/road atlases are amazing things and new ones come out every year. Though, I suppose with American's fascination for gadgets, they may soon go the way of the Dodo. I should keep mine. all the lost GPS people can come to my house to consult the maps and find a way home. I could charge for this service and become a millionaire! :D

 

You are a much more patient woman than I ---- I would have nagged and nagged about the lady going the wrong way. I can be quite a pest in situations like that.

 

I had the same US Atlas for YEARS and finally upgraded last summer. It was hard to find and I just now got rid of the old one (I was afraid to give it up!)!! I like the Rand McNally Wal-Mart ones because they list all the Wal-Marts in the back--- we are cursed when we travel and seem to always find ourselves in need of a Wal-Mart.

 

I wil say, though, that I do like my GPS for a few things. It tells me my 'arrival time'. It tells me the speed limit (usually it's correct, unless it's a school zone or recent speed changes). It shows me cross roads as I drive.... this allows me to add to the map in my head. And, I love, love the feature that tells me how fast *I* am going. My van has a traditional spedometer and I just LOVE having the actual number in digital form to look at. I'm strange that way! :lol:

 

Oh, paper maps are, I believe, going the way of the dodo. I tried to find a state map for ds who is going to college in a different state and will be driving. He has been with us enough times to know that he should use the GPS as a GUIDE, but to pull over and check a street map to visually confirm what the GPS tells him. I had to ORDER a map, as I couldn't find one. $8 for a road map!! The route he goes doesn't have a 'welcome center', otherwise we would have picked one up in there---- do they even have road maps at welcome centers anymore?!

[I talk to the trees]

Glad you made it out okay!

 

So..... anyone besides me reading this and thinking ATMOS? :lol:

[Sahamamama]

Just two weeks ago, in an unfamiliar area, Google Maps had me going THE WRONG WAY DOWN A ONE WAY STREET. Because I was looking for my turn, I did not see any one-way signs (were there any?). I only thought, "Hey, why are all these people honking at me?" I made it there safely, thank God.

[Kalmia]

On a trip to the American Museum of Natural history the Tom-Tom repeatedly, and politely, asked us on numerous occasions to turn left... into the East River!

 

 

I swear by DeLorme map co. Their state atlases. http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10096

[Cinder]

do they even have road maps at welcome centers anymore?!

 

Yes they do--at least in FL, AL, GA. Dh loves maps and he always picks one up when we're traveling, just in case.

[Wildcat]

Yes they do--at least in FL, AL, GA. Dh loves maps and he always picks one up when we're traveling, just in case.

 

Ah, thanks! I haven't picked any up in years. I guess I should grab some new ones as the ones I have are quite old.

[vonfirmath]

I was just glad it was you typing because then I knew you got out okay.

 

A forum friend lost one of her in-laws because they followed the GPS off road -- onto roads that it turned out were not open all year around. (but no signage either)

 

ETA the link:

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/05/missing_canadian_couple_experts_say_always_pair_gps_with_paper_map_realize_technology_not_infallible.html

 

Albert and Rita Chretien

[Parrothead]

Hazel (what we named our GPS) has done a similar thing a time or two. Your experience takes the cake though. I'm glad you made it to the wedding.

[mom2scouts]

I have a GPS and it usually gets me where I'm going, although it doesn't always seem to take the simplest route. I do always keep maps in my car and I almost always check a map before I go somewhere totally unfamiliar.

 

I saw a picture somewhere showing people who put a sign in their driveway that said, "Don't turn here. Your GPS is wrong!" or something similar.

[MyThreeSons]

Oh, paper maps are, I believe, going the way of the dodo. I tried to find a state map for ds who is going to college in a different state and will be driving. He has been with us enough times to know that he should use the GPS as a GUIDE, but to pull over and check a street map to visually confirm what the GPS tells him. I had to ORDER a map, as I couldn't find one. $8 for a road map!! The route he goes doesn't have a 'welcome center', otherwise we would have picked one up in there---- do they even have road maps at welcome centers anymore?!

As of two years ago, AAA still had road maps available. And they're free if you're a member. AAA membership is a must-have, IMO.

 

ETA: I've also been able to purchase road maps at Barnes and Noble, and convenience stores/truck stops.

[KungFuPanda]

Google maps sent me in a perpetual loop on Friday . . . and this was in Baltimore, so there was no real excuse.

[Julie Smith]

Skynet became self-aware.....?

 

When I read the subject I also thought, "Rise of the Machines".

[Χά�ων]

I would love to use road maps but it is hard to read them while driving.

[mamaraby]

Sadly I don't have a GPS nor have any of the online maps sent me wildly astray. *sigh* I can't help but feel a little left out.

 

We have one atlas in the car, but it's my son's and he's not inclined to share nor is he helpful when it com to navigating, though maybe with a bit more practice. I also have two state maps in the glove box - the one for my state is new and breaks at the folds. I much prefer the old ones with their non-glossy paper and far less fragile folds. I wish the state saved a little less money when it came to the maps and brought the old ones back.

 

We mostly use the Apple map app that comes on the iPad and while I may ask for it to give me options on how to get there, I like that I can get the maps cached so that I can use them offline and then proceed to use the map just like I would a paper one. So, in other words, an app map hybrid. :)