Or your phone. I would say, "Use some common sense," but it doesn't seem to be too common in 21st Century America. Driver gets stranded on Utah mountain after following Google Maps ‘shortcut’
Blindly obeying the voices, directing you to a "shortcut" can be fatal. It's happened before.
A 23-year-old man was rescued from a Utah mountainside after he followed a “shortcut” route recommended by Google Maps and ended up trapped in his car.
He ended up on a dirt road I MIGHT take a 4 wheel drive vehicle on, if it had sufficient clearance. I wouldn't take a subcompact econo sedan on that road. He was able to call for help using his cellphone. That isn't always the case.
This article only lists one incident that resulted in a fatality.
In 2022, a married dad of two drove his Jeep off the road into a creek on a dark, stormy night after following Google Maps directions — which failed to take into account that the bridge there had collapsed nearly a decade earlier.
That resulted in a lawsuit against Google.
Within about 10 miles from where I am sitting, there are 2 signs, that basically say, "I don't care what your GPS says, this is NOT a Road." There used to be 3 signs, but that last location did some serious landscaping that you would need a tank to get past. They took the sign down. And yes, one of those two spots is in front of a bridge that washed out more than 50 years ago. It is still on a map, somewhere.
Death by GPS is a thing. From Ars Technica we get the following. Death by GPS: Why do we follow digital maps into dodgy places? The article is a few years old, but apparently still to the point.
People have drowned, frozen to death in the mountains, died of exposure in Death Valley, etc. Use some common sense.
Common sense is an uncommon virtue.
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