# GPS Directs Car into Path of Oncoming Coaster Train



## MrFSS (Feb 18, 2011)

SAN DIEGO -- A 63-year-old Oklahoma woman in town to visit her son narrowly escaped injury when her rental car became stuck on train tracks in San Diego because of bad directions she received from the vehicle's GPS system, authorities said Thursday.

A Coaster train hit the rented 2009 Hyundai Accent in the rear at 3298 Kettner Blvd. around 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, said San Diego County Sheriff's Sgt. Darrell Strohl.

*FULL STORY*


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## the_traveler (Feb 18, 2011)

> the GPS directed her to turn left onto the railway, which she believed was a street


Didn't those 2 silver lines down the middle of the "road" and the wooden ties across the "road" - and maybe the crossing gate at the "intersection" didn't give her any ideas?




GPS sometimes makes mistakes too!


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## TransitGeek (Feb 18, 2011)

Why is it that when Michael Scott drives into a lake on The Office because he was rigidly following his GPS, we laugh, but when a real-life dumbass does it, we blame the GPS' "bad directions?"


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## Devil's Advocate (Feb 18, 2011)

TransitGeek said:


> Why is it that when Michael Scott drives into a lake on The Office because he was rigidly following his GPS, we laugh, but when a real-life dumbass does it, we blame the GPS' "bad directions?"


Can't we laugh at _both_ of them? Don't be so rigid! :lol:


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## JayPea (Feb 18, 2011)

I took another step, screaming, kicking, and fighting all the way, into the 21st century and bought a GPS unit for my car recently. If you don't have some basic idea where you're going, and have no common sense, I can see why some folks, like the man in Germany, I believe it was, drove up a set of steep steps and then crashed into an outhouse. First time I used it, I traveled between my mom's house and mine. I of course don't need directions between the two but I thought it would be fun to try it out anyway. First thing, when I turned onto a road that wasn't on the route, it told me, after screeching at me to "make a U-turn when safe to do so", it then told me to "return to the road". It had me driving through some farmer's field! Problem is one end of that road had been reconfigured 8 years ago and the "new" road hadn't been programmed into the GPS. Then it wanted me to turn onto a side road that hadn't been there for 50 years and had I followed its instructions to the letter, I'd have driven up an embankment and crashed into a barn.

A little common sense and some basic idea of where you're headed works wonders with GPS units.


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## jis (Feb 18, 2011)

Just because one has some instrumentation does not mean they have to promptly lose all situational awareness that is independent of that piece of instrumentation. If ones speedometer breaks down and shows 0mph, does one decide that one is not moving afterll, even when the trees and houses are whizzing by, and proceed to open the door and step out of the car?


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 18, 2011)

The article is mistaken. She didn't drive onto the tracks because of her GPS system. She drove onto the tracks because she is a nincompoop. The GPS system merely provided a conduit whereby to confirm this fact.


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## Spokker (Feb 20, 2011)

Do GPS units keep logs? Were the police able to confirm the directions her GPS was currently giving (on my device, there is a list of directions, then you hit navigate for real-time navigation, and you just back out to get back to the list)? If the GPS unit was destroyed in the crash then it's her word only. And even if the GPS gave wrong directions, she is 100% at fault.


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## Nexis4Jersey (Feb 20, 2011)

She should lose her license for stupidity reasons....


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 20, 2011)

Her survival is unfortunate.


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## Devil's Advocate (Feb 20, 2011)

Nexis4Jersey said:


> She should lose her license for stupidity reasons.


How about we stop _giving_ licenses to unsafe drivers in the first place? Probably because then we'd have to admit we have created a country so mind bogglingly inefficient that it simply cannot function without nearly everyone driving their own vehicles dozens of miles every single day. :lol:


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## Alice (Feb 20, 2011)

Agreed people shouldn't mindlessly obey their GPS's. However, when you find a map error, you should report it. Every major GPS manufacturer has a way to report errors. Garmin (the one I own) encourages it.


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## TransitGeek (Feb 21, 2011)

daxomni said:


> Nexis4Jersey said:
> 
> 
> > She should lose her license for stupidity reasons.
> ...


This.


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## Trogdor (Feb 22, 2011)

And you all thought I was kidding:

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/36219-reduced-gps-accuracy-in-the-southeast/page__view__findpost__p__271441


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## fairviewroad (Feb 22, 2011)

Green Maned Lion said:


> Her survival is unfortunate.


Really?

You think the preferable outcome would be for this woman to have been killed?

Shame on you.


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 22, 2011)

Shame on me? For what? Believing that people that are too dumb to functionally survive in the world should eliminate themselves from our gene pool? I do not generally support Hitler's idea of culling the "undesirables", as he put it. But I certainly agree with the idea of people with undesirable traits, such as stupidity, removing themselves naturally.

After all, if we weren't culled for many many centuries, we'd still be neanderthals. It is by removal of those less fit for our world that we evolved the way we did. Until we started getting the touchy-feely huggy types who think that all people, no matter how retarded they might be, have a right to life... even if the very function of them living needs to be done with them in a hospital room their entire life. Pfui.


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## Ryan (Feb 22, 2011)

I'll have this:



Nexis4Jersey said:


> She should lose her license for stupidity reasons....


With a side of this:



Green Maned Lion said:


> Her survival is unfortunate.


And maybe this for dessert:



daxomni said:


> Nexis4Jersey said:
> 
> 
> > She should lose her license for stupidity reasons.
> ...


And maybe an order of this to take home:



Alice said:


> Agreed people shouldn't mindlessly obey their GPS's. However, when you find a map error, you should report it. Every major GPS manufacturer has a way to report errors. Garmin (the one I own) encourages it.


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## Spokker (Feb 22, 2011)

fairviewroad said:


> You think the preferable outcome would be for this woman to have been killed?


Hoping she didn't survive is going a bit too far, but I do think that I will pray to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ that she gets cancer that is never discovered and drops dead and is given a swift burial at sea.
His wishing that she didn't survive won't make it happen anymore than my pleas that she develop a serious disease. The point is that when people are not careful they are going to be killed regardless of what anyone thinks.


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## Devil's Advocate (Feb 23, 2011)

Spokker said:


> I will pray to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ that she gets cancer that is never discovered and drops dead and is given a swift burial at sea.


You don't see anything wrong with praying for a savior to arbitrarily kill complete strangers just so you can settle a score with someone you've never met?


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## George Harris (Feb 25, 2011)

Some of you kindly people may be singing a different song if you someday suffer from confusion because of too many unfamiliar things happening at once.

Just remember, "you reap what you sow," may not be 100% but it is generally true.


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## DET63 (Feb 25, 2011)

Fortunately no innocent children or other people died.



> It was wet and dark outside, and the GPS directed her to turn left onto the railway, which she believed was a street, he said. The car quickly became stuck on some gravel.


Still think the woman was an idiot? Have you ever driven in unfamiliar territory in a rainstorm at night? What may have appeared to be an obvious railroad crossing during the day or for anyone familiar with the area might appear quite different on a dark and stormy night to a driver otherwise preoccupied.

There should be a way to update information in GPS logs automatically, especially if it finds that a car is moving smoothly over a road that supposedly doesn't exist!


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## Spokker (Feb 25, 2011)

daxomni said:


> You don't see anything wrong with praying for a savior to arbitrarily kill complete strangers just so you can settle a score with someone you've never met?


First, you missed my point entirely.
Second, wishing the Lord strike someone down doesn't actually work.


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## Spokker (Feb 25, 2011)

DET63 said:


> Fortunately no innocent children or other people died.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes.

Here is where the incident occurred: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF8&q=3298+Kettner+Blvd+san+diego&fb=1&gl=us&hnear=Garden+Grove,+CA&cid=0,0,1776951984556483340&ll=32.736342,-117.177319&spn=0.00101,0.00142&t=h&z=20

Note that there are four tracks. Remember that there should have been signs warning that there are four tracks ahead. There should be railroad crossing equipment suggesting that tracks may be there. A glance at Google Street View confirms that there is a sign warning of tracks up ahead. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF8&q=3298+Kettner+Blvd+san+diego&fb=1&gl=us&hnear=Garden+Grove,+CA&cid=0,0,1776951984556483340&ll=32.736718,-117.177074&spn=0,0.00142&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=32.736768,-117.176997&panoid=p7XKe_O5mKhNz5hP-APsFg&cbp=12,253.11,,0,10.44



> Have you ever driven in unfamiliar territory in a rainstorm at night?


Yes. It's quite manageable as long as you slow down and don't give your life over to a GPS system.



> What may have appeared to be an obvious railroad crossing during the day or for anyone familiar with the area might appear quite different on a dark and stormy night to a driver otherwise preoccupied.


Why is the driver preoccupied? 


> There should be a way to update information in GPS logs automatically, especially if it finds that a car is moving smoothly over a road that supposedly doesn't exist!


Invent it.
About the GPS. There is no confirmation that the GPS was at fault.

I would like to see GPS logs, if such a thing exists. I want to know what the name of the street that she was told to turn onto was. I doubt the instruction was, "Turn left onto railroad tracks."

I have a hunch that the directions told her to turn left onto Pacific Coast Highway or Kettner, that she made a mistake and now she is lying. Just a hunch. Remember, she was in a rental car and if her own insurance doesn't cover it, and she didn't buy rental insurance, then she is liable if she doesn't come up with a broken GPS story.

But even if the GPS unit is at fault, a GPS system doesn't replace the need to scan ahead and be aware of your surroundings.


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## Devil's Advocate (Feb 25, 2011)

Spokker said:


> daxomni said:
> 
> 
> > You don't see anything wrong with praying for a savior to arbitrarily kill complete strangers just so you can settle a score with someone you've never met?
> ...


I took my time in actually posting my reply, but the quote I used contained _everything_ from your *original* post. There was no other point to discern until you went back and edited your post to add one. Also, if you thought it _would_ work, am I to assume you would _still_ choose not to use it?


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## Spokker (Feb 25, 2011)

daxomni said:


> I took my time in actually posting my reply, but the quote I used contained _everything_ from your *original* post. There was no other point to discern until you went back and edited your post to add one.


I edited at 8:20PM and you replied after 9PM. Did you click on "reply" and then wait an hour to post it?



> Also, if you thought it _would_ work, am I to assume you would _still_ choose not to use it?


Yes, if it were God's will.


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## Spokker (Feb 25, 2011)

George Harris said:


> Just remember, "you reap what you sow," may not be 100% but it is generally true.


Yes, true. When you sow while relying totally on your GPS and not your eyes, you may reap a train up your ass.


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## Ryan (Feb 25, 2011)

Spokker said:


> DET63 said:
> 
> 
> > Fortunately no innocent children or other people died.
> ...


Wow, I know exactly where that is - I used to travel to San Diego for work, so I've rented a car from the car rental places there a half dozen times or so. Having personal experience with being unfamiliar with the area, driving by GPS, at night (although not in the rain), I think even more so than I originally did that the woman was an idiot. It's freaking impossible to think that the 4 tracks there are a road, there are all kinds of signs warning of the tracks.


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