GPS Leads Woman Onto Railroad Tracks, Minivan Destroyed
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Tracktwentynine
OBS Chief
No. The GPS did not "lead" her onto the tracks. She drove onto the tracks.
If the GPS had told her to drive off a bridge, would she have done that? (probably)
Drivers are responsible for their own actions. And if they can't figure out the difference between railroad tracks and a street, or they feel like the GPS should override their judgement, they probably shouldn't be licensed to drive.
If the GPS had told her to drive off a bridge, would she have done that? (probably)
Drivers are responsible for their own actions. And if they can't figure out the difference between railroad tracks and a street, or they feel like the GPS should override their judgement, they probably shouldn't be licensed to drive.
I generally agree that drivers need to be held responsible for stupidity like this...but at the same time, I'm not opposed to having some standard applied to GPS folks for liability for shoddy work. It's not so much cases of a turn indication being off by 50-100 feet that bug me, but rather cases where a non-existent road is marked (which happens every-so-often).
I hate those things so much. They're distracting, and I prefer to watch the road signs and traffic patterns when I'm in an unfamiliar area. I still use a map and printed directions. If I saw railroad tracks, I'd just ignore the stupid machine and turn into the nearest parking lot to double-check the map, no matter how much it yelled at me to do a U-turn.
Regardless, I'm glad nobody was hurt.
Regardless, I'm glad nobody was hurt.
Damn Rail Roads! They need to move the Tracks Out of Town so it's Safe for Idiots like her to Drive Around in a Coma!!! 
I have heard another case where someone guided by GPS ran their vehicle onto railroad tracks, and barely making it out before their car was demolished. And of someone driving up a set of stairs and crashing into an outhouse. And of someone driving off the end of a pier. I would think just a smidgen of common sense might have eliminated such problems.
OTOH, I concur with Anderson about shoddy work on the part of GPS manufacturers. On the route I take between my house and my Mom's, for instance, my GPS would have me turn onto a road that hasn't existed for years. After first driving up an embankment. And then crashing into a barn. And in that same location, it shows a rail line.....that was abandoned and the tracks pulled up 33 years ago!! . I'd think a third of a century would be enough time to ensure that whatever map company the GPS relied on for its info would get it right.
I would think just a smidgen of common sense might have eliminated such problems.OTOH, I concur with Anderson about shoddy work on the part of GPS manufacturers. On the route I take between my house and my Mom's, for instance, my GPS would have me turn onto a road that hasn't existed for years. After first driving up an embankment. And then crashing into a barn. And in that same location, it shows a rail line.....that was abandoned and the tracks pulled up 33 years ago!!
. I'd think a third of a century would be enough time to ensure that whatever map company the GPS relied on for its info would get it right. 
cirdan
Engineer
- Joined
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I heard one about somebody driving onto a frozen canal in the winter and driving several miles until reaching a point where the ice was thinner and then going under.I have heard another case where someone guided by GPS ran their vehicle onto railroad tracks, and barely making it out before their car was demolished. And of someone driving up a set of stairs and crashing into an outhouse. And of someone driving off the end of a pier.
OTOH, I concur with Anderson about shoddy work on the part of GPS manufacturers. On the route I take between my house and my Mom's, for instance, my GPS would have me turn onto a road that hasn't existed for years. After first driving up an embankment. And then crashing into a barn. And in that same location, it shows a rail line.....that was abandoned and the tracks pulled up 33 years ago!!
She was very fortunate that somebody saw it happen and could rescue her.
Making a wrong turn is one thing, but not noticing your error for several miles is another.
benjibear
Conductor
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2011
- Messages
- 1,078
GPS is a great tool but you still need to look where you are going. I don't agree with the comments about using printed maps. I always look where something is before I go but there are juts too many odd road patterns here in this area. When you have to make fast lane changes and turns while going 65mph with cars blowing at you to get out of the way, you don't have time to look down at your map.
I don't either in those situations. I'm thinking more along the lines of when I go on a road trip in my area, which is at the corner of The Middle of Nowhere and We're Lost :lol: I look at the maps in advance, get an idea of where the turns are I want to make, and then do use the GPS to signal me when I'm approaching that particular intersection. If I need to I pull over and look at the maps again. As for freeways, I keep my eyes (well, my eye, since I'm blind in one eye) and pay attention to road signs first and then GPS.
Devil's Advocate
⠀⠀⠀
I'm actually very happy with my GPS.
Of course I'm not a careless idiot who doesn't know when to second guess the instructions or outright ignore them.
I found this part of the linked story rather curious...
The woman and children flee the vehicle but thank goodness the airbags deploy anyway.
I can't seem to make heads or tails of it.
Then again, what else would I expect from a half clueless and half fabricated resource like the late Andrew Breitbart's website.
Of course I'm not a careless idiot who doesn't know when to second guess the instructions or outright ignore them.
I found this part of the linked story rather curious...
Anybody manage to follow that reasoning?
The woman and children flee the vehicle but thank goodness the airbags deploy anyway.
I can't seem to make heads or tails of it.
Then again, what else would I expect from a half clueless and half fabricated resource like the late Andrew Breitbart's website.
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Short-term shutdowns (such as the closure of the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge for a long weekend to change the deck alignment a couple years ago) tripped up many out-of-towners using GPS in their rental cars. The GPS devices all routed folks over the closed bridge, with no obvious alternate routing provided.
When I carry my Tom-Tom GPS on Amtrak trains, it ALWAYS attempts to move the location pointer to a parallel highway, if one is available. I assume this is a "programming feature" of the Tom-Tom, assuming that the user MUST want to be on a highway instead of a railroad track whenever possible.
When I carry my Tom-Tom GPS on Amtrak trains, it ALWAYS attempts to move the location pointer to a parallel highway, if one is available. I assume this is a "programming feature" of the Tom-Tom, assuming that the user MUST want to be on a highway instead of a railroad track whenever possible.
trainman74
Conductor
I was in the Bay Area that weekend with my GPS, and it did know about the closure -- because it gets traffic data, and the data service had programmed the closure information into their system.
One reason why GPS systems may be off by a few hundred feet is that they were probably keyed to maps initially drawn on a much less precise scale. In addition, curves may have been straightened out, hills leveled, or passing lanes added, all making changes that would not be worth re-drawing a map for.
If you follow Google maps up the Alaska Highway, overlaying the more recent satellite images with the drawn map, you will notice that, for any or all of the reasons alluded to above, there are places where the road appears to be shown hundreds of feet, perhaps even a few miles, from its actual location. This is not a problem for most travelers, since it's the only highway--in some cases, the only drivable road--around. However, if a GPS system is based on one of the old maps, it might try to get drivers to turn off onto a logging road, fire trail, or the like to "return" to the main highway.
If you follow Google maps up the Alaska Highway, overlaying the more recent satellite images with the drawn map, you will notice that, for any or all of the reasons alluded to above, there are places where the road appears to be shown hundreds of feet, perhaps even a few miles, from its actual location. This is not a problem for most travelers, since it's the only highway--in some cases, the only drivable road--around. However, if a GPS system is based on one of the old maps, it might try to get drivers to turn off onto a logging road, fire trail, or the like to "return" to the main highway.
They might if the woman turned onto a railroad track where there were no vehicular roads or the like for miles around. That was not the case here. Asking a satellite to precisely locate and advise a motorist where to turn from over 20,000 miles away is a bit much.
Swadian Hardcore
Engineer
This woman is an terrbile and useless driver. She almost got herself and her kids killed! She should have her license revoked until more driving training is completed!
You do not follow your GPS, you have eyes for a reason!
You do not follow your GPS, you have eyes for a reason!
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An observation, not an explanation of the accident:
I've used the GPS receiver in my Samsung Galaxy Player on a number of occasions--not relying on it for directions, but just to observe its performance (and only as a passenger). The accuracy of the location depends a lot on how many satellites the unit has a lock on. Three are needed for a 3-D fix. Using an Android app called GPS Test (Chartcross) I've observed that for quite a while you'll have a few satellites locked on, but only so-so, while another half-dozen or so are "visible", but the unit isn't getting a strong enough signal to "lock on" to them, Over time, some of these signals get strong enough to generate a lock-on, and some drift out. The accuracy of your fix can vary from under 20' to well over 150' depending on how many satellites you're locked on to.
The navigation app I use is CoPilot by ALK. I've messaged their support staff about the app desperately trying to place your position on the nearest road despite being on the train (all of the rail lines are included on the maps, so I often watch the path of the railroad and the train speed as I travel):
The staff tell me the app doesn't really have a means of depicting off-road locations. On my recent trip on the Pennsylvanian, I saw that if you get far enough from any mapped roads, the app will "give up" and show your actual position (though it doesn't treat the railroad tracks as anything more than scenery):
Of course, as soon as a road appears near your position, the app attempts to snap to it. Stand-alone GPS units (at least none that I 've seen) don't tell you anything about signal strength, and I wonder how they manage to get one's location so soon after being turned on. I can only imagine that sometimes the unit will place you on a road that you're not really on because the signal isn't good enough to accurately place your location.
And then there are those who never update the maps installed on their device.
---PCJ
I've used the GPS receiver in my Samsung Galaxy Player on a number of occasions--not relying on it for directions, but just to observe its performance (and only as a passenger). The accuracy of the location depends a lot on how many satellites the unit has a lock on. Three are needed for a 3-D fix. Using an Android app called GPS Test (Chartcross) I've observed that for quite a while you'll have a few satellites locked on, but only so-so, while another half-dozen or so are "visible", but the unit isn't getting a strong enough signal to "lock on" to them, Over time, some of these signals get strong enough to generate a lock-on, and some drift out. The accuracy of your fix can vary from under 20' to well over 150' depending on how many satellites you're locked on to.
The navigation app I use is CoPilot by ALK. I've messaged their support staff about the app desperately trying to place your position on the nearest road despite being on the train (all of the rail lines are included on the maps, so I often watch the path of the railroad and the train speed as I travel):
The staff tell me the app doesn't really have a means of depicting off-road locations. On my recent trip on the Pennsylvanian, I saw that if you get far enough from any mapped roads, the app will "give up" and show your actual position (though it doesn't treat the railroad tracks as anything more than scenery):
Of course, as soon as a road appears near your position, the app attempts to snap to it. Stand-alone GPS units (at least none that I 've seen) don't tell you anything about signal strength, and I wonder how they manage to get one's location so soon after being turned on. I can only imagine that sometimes the unit will place you on a road that you're not really on because the signal isn't good enough to accurately place your location.
And then there are those who never update the maps installed on their device.
---PCJ
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I think some GPS units have issues because they assume you're a vehicle and belong on the road. For vehicles, they're pretty accurate since you (usually) don't go off-road. For trains, it's best to use the "walk" setting for better accuracy (if your model has that). I did that on our last trip, and it was really cool to see exactly where we were and which roads and rivers were were following or crossing. I used the app "MapMyWalk", which is a fitness app, and it worked just fine. I'm surprised it let me "walk" at 90 mph.
trainman74
Conductor
Garmin Nuvi GPSes, I know, do have a display showing which satellites the unit is seeing/locked onto and the current distance accuracy -- although that display is somewhat "hidden."
Swadian Hardcore
Engineer
RailRide, on your second picture it shows the train paralleling a river. If that's the Pennsylvanian, then is that the Juniata River or something else? I thought US Route 22 also parallels the Juniata.
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