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Driver follows satnav directions - car totalled
Published: 7 Aug 12 15:15 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20120807-44213.html
A German driver decided on Tuesday that he wouldn't be needing his brain anymore now that he had a satnav. Despite signs signalling a dead end, he drove straight into some road works. He told police he was just following orders.
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Ignoring two warning signs - which unfortunately were placed on the side of the road, rather than in a shiny new leather holder on his dashboard - he crashed straight through a barrier and into some road works.
"He just drove into the site," a police spokeswoman told The Local. "He said he was looking at his satnav."
The car was so seriously damaged that it had to be towed. And the man will almost certainly have to foot the bill.
"He'll have to pay for the damage to the site," she added. "And I don't think the insurance will pay. They'll say it was negligent driving."
The Local/bk
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Your comments about this article:
And I am looking forward to the banning of GPS devices, as they distract from driving. Same as cellphones. Or in other words, some tards ruining it for the rest of us.
In the old days we used to call that "street justice" and the police just stood back and figured they wouldn't pile on.
I suspect the police still take the same approach unless someone was injured, but I think we need a new term. "GPS justice" might work, but it doesn't have the same ring to it. We'll have to think about what we should call it. I think I'll ponder that while I'm out driving today...while I'm watching the road to see that's it's really there.
wa
Unfortunately, these are people just like the rest of us, and we don't really allow them the luxury of being human. We've all "failed" at some point, and we have more freedom because we didn't do it on the Local stage, with accident saved on the web.
These satnav drivers do make mistakes, and drivers can have spectacular accidents.
This driver has undoubtedly driven a long time to get to this point, and we can all share his frustration. A public meltdown is probably not a good thing, but...let's think about how we might react. At some point we need to allow these satnav folks to be humans too.
Not that that excuses anything.
I use a navigator here in Berlin, and find it very useful,especially in getting into the proper lane for an upcoming turn.My children are often going over to friends and finding their place is much easier with the sat/nav then with a stadtplan.
With any device a person is in control , not the other way around as in this case.