Posted on 10/08/2022 3:37:51 PM PDT by george76
The Hickory bridge had been inoperative for about nine years, and any barricades had been washed away
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A North Carolina man is dead after his GPS led him to a defunct bridge that dropped off into a creek on Sept. 30.
Phillip Paxson, a 47-year-old father of two girls, had been driving his Jeep at night from his oldest daughter's birthday party in Hickory when his GPS led him to a bridge that has been inoperative since heavy flooding in July 2013 destroyed it.
"It was a dark and rainy night and he was following his GPS which led him down a concrete road to a bridge that dropped off into a river," Paxson's mother-in-law, Linda McPhee Koenig, said in a Tuesday Facebook post. "The bridge had been destroyed [nine] years ago and never repaired. It lacked any barriers or warning signs to prevent the death of a 47 year old [sic] father of two daughters. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. It was a totally preventable accident. We are grieving his death."
Now, Paxson's family is trying to bring attention to the tragedy they believe could have been avoided with proper maintenance or even just signage and barricades from the city warning drivers not to drive toward the bridge.
...
"This was a preventable accident, the bridge he went over at night had a gaping hole and their were no barricades
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locals have established a makeshift memorial, told the outlet. "He drove to his death through that 20 [foot] ravine."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
"It was a dark and rainy night ...You knew something bad was going to happen.
Sad but stupid should hurt.
The wife’s car has been bugging her to update the GPS database for a while now.
Recalculating.
I never rely on some little screen to tell me location....
Sad but stupid should hurt.
—
It was night, and there were no barricades or warning signs of the bridge being out.
“a road map can give you an instant big picture of where you are, “
Only if you already know where you are.
When I read the headline my first thought was - what a dumnass. But once I read the article and saw that it occurred at night I felt sad for him. In unknown territory at night this could happen to any of us.
Having said all that I sparingly use GPS. I usually mentally frame it out in my mind in google maps before I start out on a trip. My wife will use her phone and tell me where to go.
Overdriving your headlights on an unfamiliar road is never a good idea, but I’d bet we’ve all done it.
They should have written “the night is dark and full of terrors”
But really, what a shame. Clearly it souds like the location needs better warnings.
My wife uses her phone to tell me where to go too!
;)
DON”T use you car’s GPS navigation system. PERIOD.
Use a smartphone. It has updated maps and perhaps vectors around traffic.
https://news.yahoo.com/north-carolina-dad-dies-driving-231438848.html
A picture of the bridge in question is at that link.
That won’t buff out.
Gonna need a sander, a grinder and some Bondo.
Maybe a crane.
5.56mm
Darwin Award?
There were no blockades in front of the bridge?!
“It was a dark and rainy night”
Sounds like Frankenstein!
“and he was following his GPS which led him down a concrete road to a bridge that dropped off into a river,”
Sounds like Beavis and Butthead!
The bridge didn’t drop off into a River, it was missing!
He drove down a road where a collapsed bridge resulted in him crashing into the river.
English is not that difficult.
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