The BMW commuter train

One more reason to trust common sense over the little voice coming out of your nav system.

[Thanks, Max G.]

[myscrnnm @ Oct 20th 2006 6:34PM]

lol, this is by far the funniest of the three.

[Ben @ Oct 20th 2006 6:37PM]

How the hell...who could be so dumb?

[Jash @ Oct 20th 2006 6:44PM]

how stupid do you have to be....

[Aluisius Sudiarto @ Oct 20th 2006 6:50PM]

You can't fix stupid.

[John Doe @ Oct 20th 2006 8:33PM]

"You can't fix stupid."

No but you can apparently enhance it it GPS.

I'll leave it up to you what "enhance" means in this case.

[g_stewart @ Oct 20th 2006 6:52PM]

He/She's driving a BMW, what else do you expect?

[Marc @ Oct 20th 2006 6:54PM]

Most likely She...

Ducking

[sean @ Oct 20th 2006 7:07PM]

The article says the driver was a 64 year old man who didn't understand how to work his GPS, and followed the wrong path listed on the screen.

[Trowble @ Oct 20th 2006 7:12PM]

I wonder how long it took for the person to realize they in the station.

[ROFLROFFLES @ Oct 20th 2006 7:18PM]

You can see the train coming too!

[codywatson @ Oct 20th 2006 7:58PM]

What the hell do people want? He's at the damn trainstation. These things don't come with guarantees people.

[Emanuel @ Oct 20th 2006 9:14PM]

I have to give some kind of defend for this driver. Knowing this train-station for like 9 years I know what the mistake was.

The GPS must have told him to take a left while he was on the Karlstrasse turning right onto onto the street which is on the far left side of the building he turned into. So he thought that was the street since it looks like it is a street going to the Autobahn.

Red is what the gps told him to do. but Blue is what he thought it meant. So it sucks that he followed it closely but a little bit too early.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1598/albtalbahnhofjs0.jpg
pic taken with google earth

Emanuel

[par @ Oct 20th 2006 9:24PM]

When I was playing carmageddon I used to do that all the time. It was really fun actually.

[Christian @ Oct 20th 2006 11:37PM]

Most GPS will re-calculate the directions if you make wrong turn so it's ok to miss a turn as long as you don't turn to something dumb like going in to a railway...

[Illuminated One @ Oct 21st 2006 12:47AM]

Wow, Emanuel, that was impressive man. This might have been the smartest comment in an Engadget poster ever wrote.

[CharlestonN @ Oct 21st 2006 12:50AM]

Damn BMW drivers, people with such bad taste in cars can't be trusted

[joe @ Oct 21st 2006 2:55AM]

hmm, starting to wonder if thats emanuels car in that picture, seems to know a little much info, about how that happens, haha, jk, thanks for the info man

[Kev50027 @ Oct 21st 2006 3:23AM]

To all of the BMW driver haters: Stop it, you're just jealous.

Thanks Emanuel for the info, that's a mistake someone could easily make.. but he did kinda go far into the station without realizing he's not on a road. That may be odd to us Americans, but I dont know the area. It's still funny, but kinda sad in a way.

[Jamar @ Oct 21st 2006 4:31AM]

Shouldn't there be a way to keep cars from driving into a railway station like that? I looked at the map, and it seems like an easy mistake to make. It shouldn't be, though- there isn't a warning sign at that intersection about driving into the station like that?

[Ivan @ Oct 21st 2006 4:55AM]

Seeing as that's a tram (that's streetcar for you Americans) terminal rather than a railway station, it's really not such a huge mistake. It's quite common to drive across tram rails in Europe (they are usually embeded in asphalt) and the guy's GPS told him to make a right. Granted, he should've stopped and turned back as soon as he saw he was entering a BUILDING, but to make that turn in the first place is not really that stupid.

[dfsdfsdfweghgfh @ Oct 21st 2006 5:44AM]

It seems like a mistake one could make. Here is the KML file for the stations location:




Google Earth - New Placemark

8.39618499741851
48.99383133078423
165.3778043522581
-1.881738199335581e-010
-82.4162853963536

root://styleMaps#default+nicon=0x307+hicon=0x317

8.396121461342005,48.99363200954996,0




(I hope this looks correct after posting)

I suppose the driver came from the right (=north).

[Greg @ Oct 21st 2006 10:05AM]

Now I know not to buy the GPS when I get a BMW...If the person had been hit by the train it would of pleased darwinism...but not even an honorable mention?!

[Istrancis @ Oct 21st 2006 12:51PM]

Thanks a lot for filling us in on that, Emanuel! :-}

[zach m @ Oct 21st 2006 12:56PM]

ivan, i don't understand why all of us Americans are freakin' out making fun of the poor dude.

the same thing could have just as easily happen here. We also call them tram cars (actually I've probably never used streetcar). But they're pretty common over here. I'm sure not as common in Europe though.

As Emmanuel's picture shows, this really doesn't seem quite that hard to do. Now granted, the guy was paying attention to his GPS more then his driving, which make me wonder if having a GPS system is really actually beneficial.

[tucker @ Oct 21st 2006 3:43PM]

very italian job-esk.

[Swoit @ Oct 21st 2006 5:23PM]

From a BMW driver, Audi's are better!

[TheGuyNextDoor @ Oct 22nd 2006 1:24PM]

I must say I do notice myself undergo a degree of mild "dumbening" when I drive one of our works BMWs. Lovely cars to drive though (except the new 3 series saloon, which I hate), and one of our 5-series' has suffered endless electrical glitches.

[BoatedBunny @ Oct 22nd 2006 3:29PM]

wow...(btw thanks for the info Emanuel)