Why do people blindly follow the GPS route...even when it takes them into danger?

People are overusing computerized everything. Plain old good sense and common sense aren’t high tech enough to trust?

Because people have become hopelessly dependent on machines to do the most basic things in their lives. If that means leading us into a wall through a GPS device, then we follow before basic commen sense kicks in.

Because people are stupid.

I acknowledge that computers do certain things better than humans, but they lack judgment; they rely on humans to supply that. However, some people are convinced that technology is actually “smart” and that is a dangerous assumption.

Even as a CNC machinist, I never make the mistake of trusting the machine. In fact, if they were infallible and totally accurate, I would never be able to work again, nor would anybody in QA/QC. People seem to forget that machines do exactly what you tell them to do and that is not always what you really want!

Imagine a genie that fulfills your wish to the letter…. and disregards the intent. GPS is no different. You want the shortest route? Well, that may not be wise but the machine will give it to you without question since that is exactly what you told it to do.

There is a reason I ignore my GPS and take Dayton instead of Aurora, and that is because I am wiser than the little lump of plastic and silicon on my dashboard.

Technology is a tool, not a panacea.

I saw that news report this morning.

The only way I can see this occurring is if the driver begins to depend more on the gps than he does his own common sense. Mobile gps devices are tools, and should be regarded as such.

I have to agree with ‘jerv’ people are stupid, & on the whole act as sheep. Check out the last story on this link :) http://www.guy-sports.com/months/sign_warn_sat_nav.htm

Some people blindly follow anything. It’s just easier than using their own common sense.

With the first story, the old couple had no idea they were being lead 35 miles out of the way down a service road. How could they know? However, I think the common sense should have kicked in that something was amiss when they realised the roads weren’t plowed.

But the second one. sheesh. I guess common sense isn’t so common these days.

@FishGutsDale Fair enough, though this occurance does speak to the necessity of comparing gps models to know what you’re working with.

I don’t know about other brands, but TomTom offers drivers a preference of whether or not they want to avoid unpaved roads. But like you said, unpaved or not, common sense should kick in whenever something doesn’t look quite right.

Back in the day, pilots used a sort of blind navigation called “dead reckoning”. Young pilots needed to acquire this skill in the event there were some sort of power outage in the cockpit. Wasn’t totally accurate either, but got them close to where they needed to go. I think that only the ultra lazy rely on the GPS systems. Electronic devices have become a crutch that tend to prevent people from using their heads. Of course, some people don’t have anything in their head to begin with….sooooooo

@SirGoofy HEY…I resemble that!

This happens frequently in the military as well. When GPS systems became standard issue basic principles of land nagivation training were thrown away. People have an almost religious faith in some magical “black box” technology without any knowledge of its basic principles or that human error in programming the “magic box” can render it worse than useless.

I used my phones GPS to drive from Miami to NYC, i made it just fine.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Yeah, a lot of people seem to forget that those “magical” boxes were made by people who may or may not have actually been smarter than the end-user. The military have it especially rough since their equipment is also built by the lowest bidder :P

As is so often the case, some of us on this thread are making assumptions without knowing all the facts about this case. Maybe the maps hadn’t been updated (how would a less-than-tech-savvy person necessarily know to do that? After all, a GPS device is only as good as its most current map, and even THAT isn’t infallible). Maybe this couple just panicked. It’s easy to lsoe your “common sense” when you’re in a panic. Also, it’s easy to say they weren’t using their common sense, but what’s “common” sense to one person isn’t necessarily that to another. Being older, I can understand how folks in their mid- 60s might have not totally understood their device, or put too much faith in it. Maybe their grandkids sold them on that.

I used my sons’ on a trip and found it told me to take an exit off the highway when it was 2 seconds away so of course i missed it. But soon I realized that if I paid attention the picture showed me in plenty of time!! Maybe these people were first time users and Reno doesn’t have snow like that, but the train one-Gaaawd.

@Austinlad I see your point. I guess I am weird then because I don’t trust anything until I am familiar enough with it to understand it’s capabilities and limitations. I am also the type of freak who reads manuals and notices the warnings. And yes, the second thing I did when I got it (after reading the manual) was update the maps.

@faye Mine is a little bit like that in that it dings about 20 feet from the turn. However, it audibly warns me 2.0 miles, 0.5 miles, 0.2 miles, and 0.1 miles before any turn/exit.

Excellent point @Austinlad…hadn’t really considered that.
Not excuse me while I attempt to extract the foot I’ve inserted so deeply in my mouth…

I asked a woman at a country store today for a map and she just laughed at me.

My wife says AAA still has maps, but do they?

I guess I wouldn’t mind so much if there was free wifi everywhere, but there ain’t, and anyway, what if your batteries die?

I love maps! it’s scary when they aren’t available.

I would prefer having a paper map so I could have the journey in my mind. A GPS would be gravy.

@faye: (chuckling) The “journey in my mind” was what made long distance driving so miserable. I was ecstatic to finally have this device to handle the navigating chores so I could finally enjoy the drive.

Turn left into tree
technology is great when it works