You cannot always trust GPS

we've used mapquest and now we also have a gps. i usually check both and they are the same directions. our gps had been off once so far because the exit had changed locations. but we need to update our maps so it may be right on the updated maps. i don't think people can blame the gps for that accident. sure the gps was wrong, but 3 people in the car and not one of them could say "hey we shouldn't turn on the train tracks" ? when we go anywhere we don't blindly rely on the gps. i still check road signs and pay attention to where it is sending us.

Map quest didn't even know where my town was the last I knew. I live in NY and it came up with a Vermont Map. Surprised it didn't give up Canada, at least my part of NY used to be Canada, but I don't think it used to be Vermont.

On the tv they also said they were investigating and that the drivers should not only rely on the GPS.

This is far from the GPS's fault, its a user error. Sure the GPS probably said in a friendly "Turn right here", however I don't care who's telling me to turn, if there is no road only tracks, or if there is a big train coming at me, I am NOT turning. Basic driving logic, trust the navigator but don't do EXACTLY as they say, I am not gonna turn left the moment the navigator (human or GPS) says turn left, I'll do it at the next available left hand turn. People can be so idiotic.

I can't believe that they are blaming this on the gps. As the newscaster said, didn't the driver bother to watch where he was going! I can tell you that once my son took our gps to go to a restaurant in Buffalo and he ended up going into canada!!! That was with no birth certificate or anything. He had a harder time getting back into NY than he did getting into Canada. We use a gps, but usually will print out on mapquest too, just incase.

That accident was not the fault of a faulty GPS system, it was the fault of the driver! The GPS may have said to turn right, but wouldn't you LOOK before turning, even without a GPS? That driver should have looked before he/she turned into that train. This reminds me of a story a guy I knew told me about his girlfriend. They were in a car, she was driving. She was in the left-hand lane of a two-lane road and pulled up behind a car with it's left-hand turn signal on, stopped at a red traffic light. The guy told her she should get into the right-hand lane so she can go instead of getting stuck behind the car trying to turn left. She got into the right-hand lane, and drove directly through the red light! She blamed him, but it was not his fault. HE wasn't driving, SHE was. The police would have said the same thing if she had gotten stopped. The driver of any vehicle is responsible for looking out for any dangers and to always, always look before turning! They are responsible for every move that car makes, no matter what anyone or anything says.

I use MapQuest.com as well, I do not have a GPS nor have I ever used one. I use a map and MapQuest.com to help me in my directional needs. Maybe some places have changed and they haven't changed that in the GPS map system yet..But as you said couldn't they have seen that it was the wrong way if they paid more attention to where they were headed?

Sheesh! Wouldn't you think common sense would over-ride a GPS system?! While GPS is meant to be a help, I don't think it's always 100% correct, and should be used as a help...not an infallable. It doesn't know if traffic has been re-routed, like if a road bridge is out, nor can it tell other important stuff like that. Not sure, but I think this is the second train/car accident I've read about where people blamed their GPS for it, and I'm sure there are probably many more instances we haven't heard about. I use MapQuest a lot too. Just like you I find it to often be in error, and carry my car atlas to check on. The company my one daughter works for sends her out of town to deliver patients to this other hospital system. They print out a MapQuest for her, and in this one area of town the MapQuest is totally 'off'...as is the regular state map! Lots of times anymore I'll ask AAA for a trip tik to get to an area far from home that I haven't been too. At least they know when a road's temporarily closed and all that. (Well, more often than GPS or MapQuest anyways.)

I have never used one. I have thought about getting one, but definitely would also stay aware of where it was sending me. I usually just get directions off of the mapquest site.

I find this funny, because I mean you see where your going because your driving. I want a GPS, only because I can't find my way out of a paperbag. Now maybe the driver was looking down at the GPS before turning right, but what was the other two passengers doing that would have prevented the driver from heading towards a train. Currently I use computer based directions and those are sometimes wrong, so if a GPS is going to be wrong, I rather it being told to me. Than having to look down every minutes to read the paper and risking running off the road or into another driver. Before I buy a GPS, I will research it and compare others and prices, hopefully they will go on sale after Thanksgiving.

I dont have GPS. But my son does and so far he had no problem with it. Wonder why the people in the car did not see the train coming, that would be the first thing I would see if I was driving.Glad to here that no one was hurt.

Turn right here...and it is 2 driveways before the real street. GPS is wonderful..but you must use common sense...a turning on to train tracks...this is just plain stupidity. It sound cruel...but people just don't think. I am sorry. It is not the GPS fault.

Hi friend, If we go out,we generally take GPS with us and with the directions it gives,we go.We blindly follow it.But after reading your discussion,i feel i should be careful in finding out the way. Thanks for your discussion. Have a nice day.

I can't trust my instincts, that's what I can't trust. People have forgotten or never learned how to read a map so they rely on computers to guide them. A computer only knows what you tell it, if you tell it something wrong it doesn't know, its only a piece for data entry. I don't use GPS but I'm thinking about getting it because we travel so much and I sometimes need to find something that close and a map just doesn't give that detail.

I am not a driver, so I don't use either of these things, but it really is good to know. It is hard though when you really don't know where you are going and you have no idea if these systems are steering you in the right direction of 50 miles off course.

This is another example of why people need to remember that they are the people and the computer thingees are just tools. The people still need to take personal responsibility and stay in charge. I think dri vers need to drive when the wheels of the vehicle are turning and pull over to look at their GPS. Same thing with answering the cell phone. I see no reason why people should be so enslaved to their technology as to feel the need to answer the phone while driving a vehicle. Part of maturity, it seems to me, it being able to understand priorities and act responsibly in connection with them rather than giving in to instant gratification.

hi gardengerty I think the old fashioned way of using ones eyes and one good atlas and map are the safest ' way to travel. if the gps works fine, but if it doesnt 'then back to the basics.electronic gizmos are fine 'as longas they work, but the basics can be used if' need be.

Boy those GPS thingies. My sister and I (plus my son and her 3 daughers) were out in Colorado for a wedding in an area where none of us had ever been. She brought along her GPS unit to put in the rental car. Finding the dude ranch where we were staying was easy. But when we tried going site-seeing, it was a joke. The GPS thingy kept trying to get us to turn into a brick wall at one point. And when we refused to turn that way, the female computer voice kept telling us to find a way to make a legal u-turn and try again. We finally had to turn the thing off.

Well, that's really nothing new to me. This really reminds me of the time when I tried to get to the place where I can get my computer fixed, I used a GPS back then. I got lost, and yes, that happens sometimes. But with that being said, I spent like 2-3 hours with the GPS (a little p.o.s) trying to reach my destination. That thing... either the ones who manufactures GPS should do a better job programming it, or maybe it should be just banned out of the market. I heard a story which took place in Canada or Australia, I don't know where. But the driver in either one of those places was using a GPS. The driver turned right, and just went straight as the GPS directed him/her to. And guess what? Oh no, the driver ended up driving toward the end of the cliff, and he fell off of cliff inside the car for like... a couple hundred feet??? sad... The GPS integrated in the car or the ones you buy from the stores, it is pretty cool idea that you can have a little gadget in your car that tells you where to go in order to reach your destination, but the false programming which makes the GPS to guide you toward the wrong direction... should be banned out of the market (is what I think). happy mylotting :)

You cant blame that on GPS. Its just plain silly to rely only on GPS. It is only a help not an all in all solution.