This is why I never trust a GPS device blindly

I always tell my dad to NEVER trust his GPS blindly, I’ve used GPS devices for work for several years and I always find streets that are either driveways, overpasses, or don’t exist anymore.

Man drowns after GPS device sends car into a reservoir.

The Spanish Red Cross in Extremadura reports that a 37 year old Senegalese man has drowned, in the La Serena reservoir at Capilla, Badajoz.

He was travelling with a friend on Saturday night and it seems the GPS navigation device in the Peugeot 306 had sent them along the road in question returning from a fair in Cabeza de Buey, Badajoz. The data used by the device was out of date, and the road has now been flooded by the creation of the reservoir.

The driver’s companion said that they could not brake in time, and while he managed to get out of the vehicle and swim to shore, his friend drowned. He said the car sank in a couple of minutes.
Emergency workers treated the passenger at the scene for cuts and bruises, and then he was allowed to leave.

On Sunday morning a diving team found the body the of the driver eight metres from the shore in a depth of just three metres of water.

I get it, it was dark and he had trouble seeing what was in front of him, but couldn’t he wait until morning to resume travel? Hey, I’ve been lost plenty of times with and without a GPS, trying to find your way through an unfamiliar place at night is a hard task, that’s why if it wasn’t an emergency they could have waited until morning.

There’s also the issue about the outdated GPS. You can’t buy a GPS today and expect it to be good for 3 or 4 years, roads change, a GPS device older than 3 years is outdated, hell even a 2009 version is now considered outdated, so either find out if your maps can be updated or get a new model, driving into a body of water by mistake is no laughing matter.

GPS devices are cheaper nowadays, just take a look at the popular ones on Amazon, I really don’t see a good reason to hang on to an outdated device, that’s as bad as trying to find an address using a paper map from 10 years ago.

[via]