The other side of GPS
December 6th 2007 10:08
While we were in England, we used a GPS system extensively. Without it we would have been lost on dozens of occasions. Not only that, having it with us meant we could relax and go off the main roads without qualms.
However it seems not everyone is so happy with drivers using their GPS systems. Especially when truck drivers use them badly.
Whereas in the past truck drivers would have avoided the narrow streets of old villages, or the rambling county lanes (often restricted to one vehicle at a time), now, because the GPS ‘guides’ them, they’re finding themselves in places they’d never have gone in the past, sometimes with disastrous consequences. What seem to be shortcuts can actually cause considerable danger.
Once you’re on one of these lanes, or in one of these villages, there’s nowhere to turn, and reversing isn’t an option. Some trucks have hit the side mirrors of local cars and sent them flying. Others have nearly killed residents because of the lack of footpaths. One foreign truck driver got his truck caught between two houses, and in frustration burst into tears – he also managed to cut off the power to the village. And in one not-so-hilarious case, a car, complete with distraught passenger, got caught up on the back of a tractor-trailer and was dragged some distance before the tractor driver was made aware of his extra baggage.
Now some of the villagers are requesting that their villages be removed from the GPS systems. They think it’s the only way they’ll avoid having unwanted vehicles pouring through their streets.
Unfortunately this isn’t as simple as it sounds. Any road that’s drivable has to be included. The makers of the GPS maps suggest that villagers erect signs showing that certain roads aren’t useful for large vehicles, just as they do for bridges that are too low for tall trucks.
In the long term they will endeavour to provide information within the GPS to help trucks avoid the narrow roads. In the meantime, the problems go on, and villagers tear their hair out.
However it seems not everyone is so happy with drivers using their GPS systems. Especially when truck drivers use them badly.
Whereas in the past truck drivers would have avoided the narrow streets of old villages, or the rambling county lanes (often restricted to one vehicle at a time), now, because the GPS ‘guides’ them, they’re finding themselves in places they’d never have gone in the past, sometimes with disastrous consequences. What seem to be shortcuts can actually cause considerable danger.
Once you’re on one of these lanes, or in one of these villages, there’s nowhere to turn, and reversing isn’t an option. Some trucks have hit the side mirrors of local cars and sent them flying. Others have nearly killed residents because of the lack of footpaths. One foreign truck driver got his truck caught between two houses, and in frustration burst into tears – he also managed to cut off the power to the village. And in one not-so-hilarious case, a car, complete with distraught passenger, got caught up on the back of a tractor-trailer and was dragged some distance before the tractor driver was made aware of his extra baggage.
Now some of the villagers are requesting that their villages be removed from the GPS systems. They think it’s the only way they’ll avoid having unwanted vehicles pouring through their streets.
Unfortunately this isn’t as simple as it sounds. Any road that’s drivable has to be included. The makers of the GPS maps suggest that villagers erect signs showing that certain roads aren’t useful for large vehicles, just as they do for bridges that are too low for tall trucks.
In the long term they will endeavour to provide information within the GPS to help trucks avoid the narrow roads. In the meantime, the problems go on, and villagers tear their hair out.
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