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Satnav leads minibus into river



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A MINI-BUS owned by a taxi firm called Streamline was guided by a satnav system into a river. The driver was on his way to Castle Acre, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, when he took a wrong turn into the River Nar.
A spokeswoman for the firm said: "When it told him to carry straight on, he did, even though it was taking him along the river."


The full article contains 72 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 23 April 2008 11:07 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Technology
 
1

Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 23/04/2008 12:19:39
And for that piece of crass stupidity, he should loose his licence permanently.
2

johnABZ,

23/04/2008 13:37:31
No: 1. Spot on. Does nobody ever use a map these days or maybe that too much like common sense.
3

Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 23/04/2008 14:09:25
#2:

No they don't, because if you get caught reading a map whilst driving, you could be in serious trouble. Reading a satnav is of course perfectly OK, even if by concentrating on it so hard, you inadvertantly drive into a brick wall, off the edge of a cliff, or in this case into a river.

The idea of anyone actually pulling over to get their bearings and decide what to do next is of course out of the question. Which is maybe just as well because otherwise you would find people stopped half way round roundabouts, on motorway hard shoulders and even in the fast lane of the motorway.

Like mobile phones and smoking whilst driving, there are people who can deal with it and there are people who can't.
4

johnABZ,

23/04/2008 16:14:44
No: 2.
No they don't, because if you get caught reading a map whilst driving, you could be in serious trouble.

I didn't suggest that although you are right, there are some muppets out there who do just that. Planning and preperation (and common sense) prevails. Plan your route before you leave and write it down if your memory is that bad.
5

A Friend of Fernando Poo,

, Newington 23/04/2008 18:25:37
At the next weir, take the second fish on the left.
6

Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 23/04/2008 20:28:26
Sorry, john, maybe that was a bit too subtle.

The implication was that some people are incapable of actually planning the route beforehand and therefore rely totally on working it out whilst on the move.

Reading a satnav whilst on the move is legal and should be safe, although it appears that for some drivers to do so is actually suicidally dangerous. Reading a conventional map when driving is never to be advised.

What happens with the satnav is that they get so engrossed in following the pretty little picture which has a little arrow on it, representing their car, that they actually forget that they still need to DRIVE the damn thing.

 

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