UK drivers trust GPS more than their own eyes

We've heard reports before about the dangers of driving while under the influence of GPS, but it looks like drivers in the UK have taken trust of their navigation units to the extreme. Twice in the space of the last two weeks, we've seen reports of British drivers taking serious risks because they trust the info displayed on the small screen more than what they see through their windshield. In the most recent case, drivers passing through the village of Luckington have found themselves landing in the River Avon, by following a GPS-recommended route that pointed to a bridge that has been closed for a week. Despite warning signs on both sides of the road, and nothing but water straight ahead, local villagers have found themselves pulling an average of two cars a day out of the river for the past week. "When you ask what happened, they say, ‘My sat-nav told me it was this way,'" one resident told The Times. Meanwhile, the  village of Crackpot (yes, that's really its name) has had to deal with drivers whose navigation systems have directed them to the edge of a cliff with a hundred-foot drop. So far, there have been no serious injuries, but drivers have found themselves stranded on a rocky path. "It's only a matter of time before something happens," said one resident. Listen, we like GPS as much as the next sense-of-direction-impaired driver. But we also do our best to use our eyes, as well. And if you don't, well, there's a village in England named for you, and it ain't Luckington.

Read - Luckington
Read - Crackpot

[Jeff Minter @ Apr 20th 2006 5:47PM]

Think Star Wars episode 4 (New Hope) their flying thru the trench and the computer is shouting "STAY ON TARGET"

[Quest @ Oct 20th 2006 10:14PM]

Its not the computer shouting "STAY ON TARGET", wasn't it 'Gold 5'?

[ByeLaw @ Apr 20th 2006 5:48PM]

Dumb ass English....oh wait, I'm english...Oh bugger! :(

[Count Chocula @ Apr 20th 2006 5:50PM]

Could this be used by that Prince of England dude that killed his wife Diana?

[Darren Tilley @ Apr 20th 2006 5:52PM]

Count Chocula. Topical humor relies on, at least, a bare mininum of knowledge of what you are talking about.

[airpolgas @ Apr 20th 2006 5:58PM]

Marc, commendations on such witty writing. Those last two sentences were funny as hell. Was it just a coincidence that the other town has "luck" in it's name?

[penguinpirate7 @ Apr 20th 2006 5:59PM]

4 >> 3 (as opposed to just 4 > 3)

[thirty3baboons @ Apr 20th 2006 6:13PM]

Nah, sorry - bit of journalistic spin eh?

The story being reported all morning on TV in the UK is that GPS is sending drivers on an *alternative route* because the bridge is closed and that alternative is a perfectly useable ford. Drivers have been getting stuck because it's rained a lot recently on higher ground, making the route too deep for a car (still fine for a 4x4 though).

AND they're still using their eyes, but unfortunately the depth guage in the ford is not at the deepest point, so drivers going down that route *THINK* it's passable when it isn't at the minute.

[Andrew @ Apr 20th 2006 6:17PM]

Why the heck don't they put a barrier INFRONT of the drop-off? With the high taxes they pay, you think they could afford a barrier.

[Bdub @ Apr 20th 2006 6:30PM]

Count Chocula: I figured trolls smell bad but I had no idea they had zero humor and bad taste. I'm taking a guess that you are American. Way to keep many of the Brits pissed off at us Yanks.

[diulei @ Apr 20th 2006 6:31PM]

Haha, Crackpot.

[rat bastard @ Apr 20th 2006 6:50PM]

"Think Star Wars episode 4 (New Hope) their flying thru the trench and the computer is shouting "STAY ON TARGET""

God help me for being a total SW geek and correcting someone, but actually it was Red Leader shouting at Luke to stay on target, not the targeting computer.

I've talked to a girl before, honest.

[duff @ Apr 20th 2006 6:52PM]

yes, the gps gods take away but they can also give. look at this man who was robbed because he didn't have a gps unit. (i say this because I just got one the other day after having too many times driving around the streets of baltimore.)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12391561/from/RS.5/

[Henry @ Apr 20th 2006 7:28PM]

Which state is the uk in?

[Myrmidon @ Apr 20th 2006 7:55PM]

Well, if anyone does drive off the cliff, it sounds like survival of the fittest at its best.

[Eli @ Apr 20th 2006 8:01PM]

If someone drives off a cliff because they were watching their GPS, good. A little bleach in the gene pool never hurt anybody.

[paul @ Apr 20th 2006 10:27PM]

#13 (henry)

I hope your trying to make a funnny, and are not serious

[Javaflash @ Apr 20th 2006 10:32PM]

Okay... I'm going try this question. It's off topic, but.

What do you folks think about VW's new Jetta crash commercial? Does it work? Will you pick up a Jetta next time you hit a dealership?

If you haven't seen it, try YouTube.com, search for "VW crash" or "Jetta crash." Thanks for the feedback.

------
P.S. I don't work for VW or Crispin Porter + Bogusky. I'm just curious.

[Glenn Beer @ Apr 20th 2006 10:49PM]

Just a few village idiots returning home.

[Myrmidon @ Apr 20th 2006 11:03PM]

The commercials are disturbing, which I guess they're supposed to be. However, they certainly don't make me want to buy a Jetta, which I now associate with horrible accidents.

[Niedermeyer @ Apr 21st 2006 1:08AM]

If you know that its way off topic, THEN WHY ARE YOU POSTING THAT HERE?? Were talking about retarded tea-sippin Brits who cant drive. Theres no doubt some forum you could google to blab about wrecked Jettas to your hearts delight.

[Moog @ Apr 21st 2006 1:14AM]

Hey there whole country is like the size of ONE state!
Wouldnt you figure that they could learn an area that small without a GPS? Oh well what would you expect from a nation of alcoholics who riot over soccer games and dont even care about their own teeth!

[Maff Mace @ Apr 21st 2006 3:58AM]

yet another US story taking the piss out of us Brits, what is it with this site?

and the people who make the comments are even worse

yes, we are the size of 1 US state, but there's 70 million of us squeezed into it with as many roads and streets as 5 of your states, and ours are all over the place, not north to South & East to West.

We may be a small nation, but you speak our language and are our descendants, remember that before you take the piss

[Maff Mace @ Apr 21st 2006 4:00AM]

WE DON'T DRINK TEA AND WE DON'T TALK WITH STUPID 16th CENTURY COCKNEY ACCENTS THAT YOU STUPID FAT YANKS THINK WE DO

[LordPaul @ Apr 21st 2006 4:20AM]

Nah, don't listen to those guys ^^

Some of us Brits love the ribbing we get from Americans.

I love tea & queuing, and my teeth are a mess.

[MrMiles @ Apr 21st 2006 4:49AM]

As funny as the story is, it's not quite the whole truth. There is no missing bridge that people are blindly plunging off. There never was a bridge. It's a ford - where a road (intentionally) goes through a river. This is normally fine, as the river at these points is normally only a few inches deep. Problem is that the river is unusually high at the moment, making it too deep for cars to pass, and drivers are ignoring the warning signs in favour of their trusty sat-nav.

[I be englisch @ Apr 21st 2006 5:14AM]

Before you SPAMs start taking the piss out of us Brits just remember that we got rid of them damn dinosaurs before you were even invented.

And yes, I love tea, Guiness, cucumber sarnies, girls with huge tits (must have nice teeth though).

[gomora @ Apr 21st 2006 7:37AM]

see this exactly proves my point. brits are fucking retarded

[Dustin Albertson @ Apr 21st 2006 8:21AM]

Maff Mace

First of all if the editor of this site found news stories of where this had happened in the states they would HAPPILY made fun of us...and no where in the story did i see them poke at the size of england or the ammount of roads. And i dont know where you get your image of US roads, but our roads are not east-west north-south...besides being in NEW York the last time i cant remember the last time i was on a straight road. Be more like Lord Paul and just have a good laugh at it and be glad that you are not one of the dumbasses that this happened to.....OHHH wait is that why your so mad is that they are fishing your mini out of the creek right now...

[Larry @ Apr 21st 2006 8:57AM]

Well, I have to admit it nearly happened to me as well not far from Bournemouth. Some friends and I were driving with GPS assistance in the middle of the night when we forgot to remove the "use ferry if possible" option of the GPS. Since it was pitch black and since there was no sign or barrier or anything at all to say that we were driving towards a fall in the lake, and since there were no ferries running at 4 am, if it wasn't for the GPS to tell us to stop the vehicle, we would probably be somewhere underwater with cans of beer flaoting around :0) In that case, the GPS saved our lives or at least saved us from a good bath in cold lake water. British on the other hand should really enhance their signalisations.

[zoara @ Apr 21st 2006 9:15AM]

Chortle chortle, jolly good show chaps, what what!

[RJ @ Apr 21st 2006 9:29AM]

I guess when they where asked: If he told you to jump off a cliff too . . .

[sparkie @ Apr 21st 2006 11:21AM]

There's a certain type of US citizen ("best goddam country in the world, god, guns and guts.." and all that ridiculous bollocks - just full of wind and piss, basically) who needs to slag of other countries at every opportunity just to make himself feel OK. If that other country happens to be the UK (let's try to include the Scots and the Welsh and the Northern Irish in the debate , shall we? and not refer to the place as "England", you ignorant fuck-tubs) then so much the better. The French suffer from exactly the same condition. When feeling insecure and suffering from a national identity crisis, when you feel as though you're in danger of becoming irrelevant, just slag of the Brits. Hmmmmm .... I wonder why that could be.

(Apologies for the long sentences - I know there are some serious bozos are out there who might need a bit help with this post ......)

Have a good weekend y'all.

[Count Chocula @ Apr 21st 2006 11:44AM]

Why all the hate lately?
Everyone just sit back, take a deep breath and relax.

America has got your back.

[Dr. Boggis @ Apr 21st 2006 12:28PM]

Apparently this story was run in the newspapers on April 1st, so it was probably all made up anyway.

[E71 @ Apr 21st 2006 1:41PM]

HAhaha. Oh, limeys what dumb ass adventures will you get yourselves into next.

[Francis @ Apr 22nd 2006 11:16PM]

The village of crackpot...hmm.

Who's bright idea was that?

[Razib Ahmed @ Apr 23rd 2006 7:01AM]

"Why the heck don't they put a barrier INFRONT of the drop-off? With the high taxes they pay, you think they could afford a barrier."-
I echo my voice with this comment and I also think that there should be a barrier in the drop off point. This is very dangerous and this way children can suffer a lot.

[FAT FUCKA! @ Apr 24th 2006 2:19PM]

americans r stuiped uk dosent have states and
"HAhaha. Oh, limeys what dumb ass adventures will you get yourselves into next" fuck u scum and your "football" isnot football , football is what u twats would call soccer american football is a load of pussys runing around in tight shorts and loads off pading! its for girls compare it to english RUGBY and ul c how pussy it is FAT SHITS

[FAT FUCKA! @ Apr 24th 2006 2:24PM]

"see this exactly proves my point. brits are fucking retarded"
ok say that in the uk and we will kick the shit out of you u dirty common fat macdonalds loving retarded fucks!

[Niles @ Apr 24th 2006 7:19PM]

This has happened in the US too - to tragic results. I talked with a friend of mine recently who works at TeleAtlas, one of the companies that supplies data to companies using GPS. He heard about the death in Montana of a mother and son out on a desolate logging road last month and wondered, like everyone else, why they would take that route. Since he had access to all his competitors' data as well as his own company's, he ran the route they were supposed to be taking and saw that several companies DID plot the route not via highway, but up this logging road. He called the local sheriffs, but they didn't believe him and haven't investigated that angle of it.

Here's the story:
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/351316.html

[Mick @ Apr 24th 2006 9:04PM]

The Brits' driving off a cliff or into the river shouldn't surprise anyone. After all, their leader, The Poodle, followed The Decider right off that cliff, too. Must be a bloody national trait.

[keler @ May 3rd 2006 3:45AM]

Hey, dont complain about how small England is, The British after all pretty much USED TO own most of America, and could have owned it to this day, if the MIGHTY BRITISH EMPIRE hadnt been whalloped and sent packing by a bunch of ragtag rebels. You had your chance to fly the union jack on american soil, and you blew it miserably. Went from the mightiest empire in the world, to today among the weakest.

And dont you dare include Ireland in your rant either,
The English plundering and invading the soverign state of Ireland was no different than Saddam invading Kuwait! Get out of Ireland and let their people be a free nation!
BRITS OUT!

[Dan @ May 5th 2006 3:23PM]

Just wanted to echo the above comments on Marc's writing- that was one of the wittiest, best written pieces I have read in awhile, and I am a journo for a living- kudos!

[Predator.Z6 @ Oct 16th 2006 9:19PM]

@ FAT FUCKA!:
You know what...you really do sound like a fat ****er. Isn't that the whole reason we had that revolutionary war thingy? So we can sit on our fat ***es and watch american football while you go get drunk and play your british football. Oh yeah! This was a rant about UK drivers and GPS. Will we please stick to the topic?

[J_Miles @ Oct 17th 2006 1:17AM]

You're all a bunch ignorant fools. So busy cussing and belittling each other that you fail to see that, regardless of nationality, you're just a bunch stupid pansys argueing over the internet like little girls. Frankly, who gives shit? Every country has it's own jokes associated with it, laugh at yourself, laugh at others, but for god sakes, shut up and move on! There is no reason for this off topic bull shit.

Sincerely,
A rebel redneck in Georgia, y'all.

[Thomas Bailey @ Sep 5th 2008 5:17AM]

Maybe the town was named after the crazy people who designed it.

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