You will wonder the reason for the title of this article, the answer is very simple, as there are people for everything, I wanted to raise awareness of how dangerous it is to follow the indications of our navigation system as if they were imperative or infallible, which we have to be aware of that it is not so. The tragic story that I come to tell you today is that of an older couple, a 64-year-old driver, a GPS and a bridge, specifically the «Cline Bridge» located in Chicago.
It turns out that the 64-year-old man was driving his vehicle paying attention to all the GPS indications, apparently even more so than the real environment, and I say this because he was so focused on the navigation system of his vehicle that it did not occur account that the bridge had been demolished (curiously since 2009 it had been demolished) or the amount of signs that warned of it and the danger that it entails. The result has been a tremendous fall from almost 11 meters high, in which unfortunately the driver's wife passed away, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
It is not the first time (nor the last) that we see how because of the reliability that we give to the GPS instructions we are involved in a problem, either because a car has ended up in a lake, because in the system they appear roads that do not exist in real life (and vice versa) or as in this case, we have crossed a demolished bridge facing a fall that could (and has been) be fatal.
GPS's are not infallible
You have to be very clear when using these systems, and here age or any other factor is no excuse, if GPS were so accurate and reliable we would already have cars that drive themselves, as in the case of some drones that are capable of being guided by an integrated navigation system, but unfortunately this is not the case, we must be aware that the maps available to our GPS systems are not updated in real time, they could be as old as more than 3 years, and any change in a road, in a name or even in a direction of a street could cause us a serious problem if we followed it faithfully.
When you drive your car, the navigation system should be a complement to your trip, you must trust the real indications and the road itself before what the GPS indicates, you have to be aware that the GPS is only there to helping us, helps us to orient ourselves, get an idea of where we are and above all to guide us through unknown territories (among other more advanced functions), but it should never be a priority over real life.
If you don't believe me, you just have to check for yourself, you can do the test by looking at the areas you already know on your maps to be aware that there are errors, especially in areas where a work has recently started, a situation that the responsible company It takes time to discover and modify, in the meantime you could see how despite the road being closed, your GPS kindly tells you to continue forward.
Another example of how you don't have to pay so much attention to GPS is the well-known Apple fiasco, Apple Maps, surely you will remember the thousand and one funny situations that the huge number of failures of these maps caused in its day (luckily Apple put the batteries in and today the failures are minimal, although there are still them), imagine who is the brave one who dares to cross this road:
For me, as if the GPS says that there is gold on the other side, anyway, jokes aside, it is a very serious issue and that must be very clear, since as you know it has become a cause or help in the death of people, either by being distracted looking at it or configuring it or by following indications that were really incorrect.
Conclusion
The message is the same that I have been repeating throughout the article, GPS? Yes, but with care and always as one more help, let's never be hands at the wheel and at the command of a program that is most likely outdated. And that is another, it is important to always keep the maps of our navigation systems well updated to avoid any confusion and they can fulfill their mission effectively, updating the maps can be heavy but it is something that must be done regularly.
All told, try to also use the newest models possible (to ensure that they receive the latest updates) and Drive with great caution!