Man Versus Machine

I couldn't help but laugh when Brian sent me a Sky News article today entitled, "Driver Led to 100ft Cliff Edge By Sat Nav." For our American readers, "sat nav" is satellite navigation, or GPS.

The article begins: "A driver has blamed his sat nav for leaving his car teetering on the edge of a cliff after he followed its instructions."Seriously? It appears as though this society no longer seeks to blame parents, spouses, or employers for irrational behavior. Apparently, any inanimate object will do.

Thus we have, ladies and gentlemen, reached a new level of peer pressure I'd like to call "steer pressure." Apparently, these sat nav devices have progressed to the point of pressuring individuals to do things they would not otherwise do - in this case, crash into a fence on the side of a steep cliff.

Car dragged from cliff top after sat nav 'nightmare'. Pic: Ross Parry/Halifax Courier 

The unbelievable irony of this story is that the man WORKS AS A DRIVER! This "professional" driver told the Halifax Evening Courier: "It kept insisting the path was a road, even as it was getting narrower and steeper, so I just trusted it." He just TRUSTED it? Seriously? Lord help us all...I'm taking the train from now on.

What kind of advantage are we giving terrorists and psychopaths out there if we just blindly follow what our sat nav tells us to do? "But it told me to turn left into the bank parking lot and to rob it at gunpoint...and I TRUSTED it!"

Comments

[Gman]

Katy,

I can identify with this man. As someone who has absolutely NO sense of direction, I would be very reliant upon the GPS as well. Although I have to admit that I would be suspicious once I got to a dirt "path" that was not even as wide as the car.

Love you,
Dad

[Brian]

I can vouch for Gman, and I'm sure Drew will agree with me. Though not always successful, he does always try to keep it on the road.