If the GPS told you to drive off a bridge?
Not sure about what being a “decorated Army veteran” makes this a story. If anything, he should understand land navigation.
GPS systems aren’t worth a damn...neither is this judge.
Relying upon GPS instead of your brains is a good way to get yourself in trouble.
Never depend on GPS alone. They have taken people into Oregon mountain roads where they got stuck in the snow and some ended up freezing to death.
The VA now has laison reps who work with the justice system in every city...
If he goes to the Va, these reps will intervene.
A lot depends on his company’s policy on the GPS. I suspect most companies require the driver to follow the device unless there’s an obvious reason not to (sends you down a goat trail, requires fording a river etc). If he’s a relatively new driver, he may have been over-careful in following company policy.
Morons abound. CDL driving instructor here....several million miles in 4 season condx pulling everything from Jet fuel to M1 tanks. Rule of thumb is you are in charge of your own load and route unless directed by your dispatcher. He hasnt a leg to stand on. Sucks to be stupid. Roads are well marked. Wait till he gets home and his wife kicks his ass as well.
Some sympathy for the Christmas season, but the GPS thing reminds me of the people who followed their GPS instructions off onto a side road and got caught in a blizzard ... not entirely bright! As my dad used to say “would you jump off a cliff just because someone told you to do it?” Same with the GPS ... it must be used with the addition of a little common sense. I personally prefer to use printed maps.
ping
Hey all you people ragging on this guy: He screwed up, yes. He was thrown in jail for a prolonged time. Way more than the many guys who rape and murder and then walk. A disgusting case in PA comes to mind.
In my opinion that’s the point of the article.
My garmin can’t figure out where I live.
It tells folks that my address is about a half mile from where I actually live.
Bad GPS is no excuse for a boneheaded road decision. Having said that, holding someone in jail for something like this is bigtime overkill if the person has a clean record.
In June I was driving from Kentucky to Connecticut, and when I got to Morgantown, WV, my GPS directed me off Interstate 79, too. Then it took me on country roads, directed me through Morgantown, and led me into Pennsylvania. What I really wanted to do was get on Interstate 68 and go through western Maryland. In the end I concluded that the GPS was trying to get me to take every toll road on the way, starting with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It looks like I’m not the only one in that area who is getting lousy directions.
Well, in order to use the brain God gave you and override GPS when it gives stooooooppppiiidddd instruction
you’d
have
to
be
following
a
map the old-fashioned way, figuring things out for yourself.
I have never used GPS. I do things the old-fashioned way. I read maps, like my daddy taught me to do.
One could constantly be second-guessing one’s GPS and avoid mistakes like this poor guy made.
But to do that, one has to do everything one would do without GPS.
So why bother with GPS if you have to be second-guessing it constantly?
Either follow it blindly or don’t use it at all. Those are the only to possible choices.
But then I’m a luddite.
Note to self. Learn to speak broken English with a heavy Spanish accent. Acquire a fake name. Don't carry a license. Illegals are simple let go at traffic stops.
That said the bail policy stinks. With NCIC data system and several other factors the chances of the driver getting away scott free were not huge and even if he did the conviction would follow him nationwide where ever he tried to get a job driving or even pulled over on a routine trafic stop.
A couple of years ago, the GPS I was using literally took me in circles. Even down an alley. Turns out someone had programmed the coordinates incorrectly. The guy at the 7-11 explained it, saying people came in all the time with the same complaint.
The GPS in our new car keeps telling us we live in a vacant lot half-way down the block - and to think, in a few years they’ll be landing planes at airports all over this country.....
“Turn left now.... and call your wife a fat bitch”....