Tech FAIL of the Day

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To be honest, I have a hard time believing people are this stupid. Who blindly follows their GPS into a body of water?

The low tide and a GPS navigation system lured them into the bay at Oyster Point at Cleveland. A firm gravel surface quickly gave way to the renowned bay mangrove mud and the Hyundai Getz was soon up to its axles, but not before they managed to travel about 500 metres.
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I am glad that just for once...just once that it wasn't an american.
 
They should probably revoke this persons license and give them a bus pass for being a fucking idiot.
 
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Oops
( HANDOUT, REUTERS / March 16, 2012 )
A ferry passes a rental car stranded in the ocean at Oyster Point, about 25kms (16 miles) east of Brisbane March 16, 2012. Local newspaper The Redland Times reported on Friday that three Japanese tourists were fooled by a low tide and their GPS into believing they could drive to nearby North Stradbroke Island across about 15 km (9 miles) of mud and water. The trio, students from Tokyo, became stuck and had to abandon the vehicle.
 
Ok I'll admit to a bit of stupidity... not GPS related but I was following a hand drawn map to a place in which was in a very rich area that was wooded. The map said to stay on this road for 5 miles then make a right... so I get to an intersection after about half a mile and I thought the road just turned into a little one laner... then the road tapered more and more and I realized I wasn't going to fit... I look at the map and I barely see a dot in front of the 5... fuuuuuck it was .5 miles not 5 miles, and I ended up driving on a walking trail.
 
If they got fooled because of a low tide, they are lucky that they were able to safely abandon the vehicle at all and get to dry land.
 
It was low tide and gravel is fine to drive on... they didnt know the area and trusted the gps that there will be a road and you can drive this route. not like they drove into the water or they drove into a street that was posted 1 way.
 
And my kids didn't believe people were this stupid when I was telling them about people suing the GPS companies because they drove into a lake.... :) Now, I can prove it!
 
wasn't there a couple last winter - remember that winter storm we had? - that trusted their GPS to get them out of a snow-covered country road but ended up driving into a frozen pond because the GPS unit was off by a few meters?
 
Just to note they are from Tokyo.

Chances are most of them in the car has hardly any driving experiences and wouldn't be surprise if only one person has a driver's license.
 
DTN107 said:
Just to note they are from Tokyo.

Chances are most of them in the car has hardly any driving experiences and wouldn't be surprise if only one person has a driver's license.
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Yeah I am willing to cut them a little slack after seeing that. Not much slack mind you, I still think that they are mildly retarded. ;)
 
Now we just need to figure out a good way of getting people this stupid out of the gene pool; because there's no guarantee with how soft and safety conscious we've gotten they will manage to do it themselves.
 
BettiePage said:
It was low tide and gravel is fine to drive on... they didnt know the area and trusted the gps that there will be a road and you can drive this route. not like they drove into the water or they drove into a street that was posted 1 way.
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Gravel, sure. However it specifically said it turned into the marsh mud and they drop into that about 500 meters.

Let me put that into perspective.

500m = 1640 feet or about a third of a mile. You have to be seriously stupid to drive into obvious marsh, much less a third of a mile into it.
 
Unless you can rent amphibious vehicles, it seems pretty daft to drive towards a large body of water. I guess common sense is not expected of foreign drivers in Australia.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Gravel, sure. However it specifically said it turned into the marsh mud and they drop into that about 500 meters.

Let me put that into perspective.

500m = 1640 feet or about a third of a mile. You have to be seriously stupid to drive into obvious marsh, much less a third of a mile into it.
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you can drive on non paved roads... if the map says a road is coming up and this is the way to go... well you go that route. you have to trust something if you dont know the area... you trust the taxi driver isnt milking you for extra $ by taking the long route, you trust the guide isnt taking you across the boarder into Iran :eek:

it's not like they drove off the cliff expecting there to be a magically bridge
 
BettiePage said:
you can drive on non paved roads... if the map says a road is coming up and this is the way to go... well you go that route. you have to trust something if you dont know the area... you trust the taxi driver isnt milking you for extra $ by taking the long route, you trust the guide isnt taking you across the boarder into Iran :eek:

it's not like they drove off the cliff expecting there to be a magically bridge
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Yes, I would trust the taxi driver isn't milking me, but when i notice he is driving into soft mud, my common sense would start asking questions. Yes, I would trust the guide isnt taking me across the border to Iran, but when I noticed the Iranian signs and anti-american graffiti, I will start asking questions. If a map tells me that I need to drive across a body of water with a car, I will start asking questions.
 
BettiePage said:
you can drive on non paved roads... if the map says a road is coming up and this is the way to go... well you go that route. you have to trust something if you dont know the area... you trust the taxi driver isnt milking you for extra $ by taking the long route, you trust the guide isnt taking you across the boarder into Iran :eek:

it's not like they drove off the cliff expecting there to be a magically bridge
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It doesn't matter what a map or gps says..if you are staring at an expanse of mud you don't drive into it. The fact that you are arguing this is nearly laughable. This isn't like turning down some slightly rough side street, or even a dirt road. This is driving into obvious mud, in a car...This by any standard is sheer stupidity.
 
It doesn't matter what a map or gps says..if you are staring at an expanse of mud you don't drive into it. The fact that you are arguing this is nearly laughable. This isn't like turning down some slightly rough side street, or even a dirt road. This is driving into obvious mud, in a car...This by any standard is sheer stupidity.
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yup i agree.

these people are morons. Never trust an electronic device when you have 2 eyes, 2 ears, can sense touch, and can smell things. All of those senses would have caused alarm in that case.
 
ebduncan said:
yup i agree.

these people are morons. Never trust an electronic device when you have 2 eyes, 2 ears, can sense touch, and can smell things. All of those senses would have caused alarm in that case.
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Well, feel free to trust the device. I do all the time. Just don't trust it more than your eyes and ears and common sense.
 
Google says we can Kayak across the Pacific to Tokyo,Therefore, it's possible.
 
I guess GPS maps are becoming a bit of a simulacrum, in the sense that the map has graduated from reflecting reality to supplanting it in the minds of some users. :p
 
at least he did not drive into a building. or into a corridor too narrow for cars. idiots
 
Mini-Me said:
I guess GPS maps are becoming a bit of a simulacrum, in the sense that the map has graduated from reflecting reality to supplanting it in the minds of some users. :p
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I think you meant "the map is not the territory" - Alfred Korzybski
 
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