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October 11, 2008 10:12:03 PM CDT

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Clueless Driver Follows GPS Directions Onto Train Tracks

Posted Jan 4, 08 10:05 AM CST in Technology,  US 

(Newser) – When the GPS in his rental car told him to turn right as was driving over a railroad crossing, a New York area driver obediently followed directions—right onto the tracks. The car got stuck and he abandoned it minutes before a train slammed into it. No one was hurt, but the driver will be billed for the damages.

The incident delayed hundreds of passenger for hours. "He tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective," said a railroad spokesman. The man, a computer technician, was unfamiliar with the area and was relying on his GPS.  "One computer brain listening to another," chuckled the spokesman.

Source Journal News (NY)

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An early GPS unit. A 32-year-old man has received a summons for obstructing a railroad crossing after he followed GPS directions onto railroad tracks.   (KRT Photos)
A GPS device. Drivers find the navigations units a useful tool but a few unfortunate incidents have happened when drivers paid more attention to what the units were telling them than what their eyes were...   (Associated Press)
Car navigation units tell drivers how to get to their destination, but a driver in the New York area listened to his a little too closely when it told him to turn right just as he was going over a railroad...   (KRT Photos)
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driving  • car accident  • train  • GPS


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