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My satnav told me it was this way
- Thread starter Blue Velvet
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oh dear god, people really are getting dumber...oh well, satnavs are a Darwin Award in the making 
edesignuk said:I read about this in the Metro this morning, BRILLIANT!
We're proud to introduce our latest movie tie-in... the Thelma and Louise SatNav device.
The sad thing is, I can totally see this happening to my dad
He is completely reliant on his SatNav, even on routes that he has driven hundreds of times from before he got the device. I went home to my parent's house for Easter, and on the way back on Monday, my dad drove me to the station to catch my train back to London. As we got close to the station, we could both clearly see the station entrance on the right hand side, but my dad looked at the SatNav and said "No - it's telling me to go this way". So we took a left and then a left and ended up in a cul-de-sac.
He is completely reliant on his SatNav, even on routes that he has driven hundreds of times from before he got the device. I went home to my parent's house for Easter, and on the way back on Monday, my dad drove me to the station to catch my train back to London. As we got close to the station, we could both clearly see the station entrance on the right hand side, but my dad looked at the SatNav and said "No - it's telling me to go this way". So we took a left and then a left and ended up in a cul-de-sac.
The Register has a long history of cataloguing satnav disasters - like the route maps that take you places via the North Sea.
I do worry about people's common sense at times though!
I do worry about people's common sense at times though!
Motorists manage to get themselves wet even without satnav.
Our house is located 100 yards from the beach with just a bit of field and some trees separating us from it. Not that many tourists access the beach by our road as it is not immediately obvious from the turn-off at the highway that it leads directly to the beach.
But every summer, about once a week, some bright spark decides it would be fun to race along the sand. The lucky ones who do it while the tide is going out and by chance avoid the soft spots, get away with just a salt-encrusted underside to their car. Some might even have the sense to hose the car down afterwards.
The unlucky ones who venture out when the tide is coming in have about a 70% chance of getting stuck. And, boy, the tide really seems to come in fast when you're looking at an immobile vehicle full of your holiday appurtenances.
So, they leg it up the road looking for someone with a tractor to pull them out to safety. Most of them get towed out without damage (other than the salt), but there's always one or two every year that has the tide cover it.
One fellow didn't even bother to ask for help. Just came into our yard, commandeered the old tractor (with the key stuck in it; my son uses it twice a day in the summer to launch his boat to check his lobster pots) and roared off down to the beach.
I heard the tractor leaving and phoned my son at work to see if he'd loaned his boat to someone. The answer being in the negative, I hotfooted down after it and discovered this joker had brought the tractor down to his car, unhitched the boat trailer beside the car, (the boat was already starting to float off the trailer), and was attempting to tow the car out. He didn't seem to realize that even tractors can get stuck in soft sand when the tide's coming in.
To make a long story short, we just barely managed to get the tractor and boat trailer to safety. The car was completely covered and had to wait until the tide went out to be towed. Wasn't worth much then, I'll tell you.
I might be a bad person but I didn't feel too sorry for him.
Our house is located 100 yards from the beach with just a bit of field and some trees separating us from it. Not that many tourists access the beach by our road as it is not immediately obvious from the turn-off at the highway that it leads directly to the beach.
But every summer, about once a week, some bright spark decides it would be fun to race along the sand. The lucky ones who do it while the tide is going out and by chance avoid the soft spots, get away with just a salt-encrusted underside to their car. Some might even have the sense to hose the car down afterwards.
The unlucky ones who venture out when the tide is coming in have about a 70% chance of getting stuck. And, boy, the tide really seems to come in fast when you're looking at an immobile vehicle full of your holiday appurtenances.
So, they leg it up the road looking for someone with a tractor to pull them out to safety. Most of them get towed out without damage (other than the salt), but there's always one or two every year that has the tide cover it.
One fellow didn't even bother to ask for help. Just came into our yard, commandeered the old tractor (with the key stuck in it; my son uses it twice a day in the summer to launch his boat to check his lobster pots) and roared off down to the beach.
I heard the tractor leaving and phoned my son at work to see if he'd loaned his boat to someone. The answer being in the negative, I hotfooted down after it and discovered this joker had brought the tractor down to his car, unhitched the boat trailer beside the car, (the boat was already starting to float off the trailer), and was attempting to tow the car out. He didn't seem to realize that even tractors can get stuck in soft sand when the tide's coming in.
To make a long story short, we just barely managed to get the tractor and boat trailer to safety. The car was completely covered and had to wait until the tide went out to be towed. Wasn't worth much then, I'll tell you.
I might be a bad person but I didn't feel too sorry for him.