Mandatory IQ tests for satnav users?

[ColinJ]

I would have thought that the instinct of self-preservation would prevent a driver from going down a steepening, narrowing footpath just because his satnav told him to, but not in the case of this guy!

IT WAS only when his BMW crashed into a fence on the edge of a 100ft drop that Robert Jones realised he had been led astray by his satnav.

Mr Jones, who drives for a living, plunged down a near-vertical footpath on the hills above Todmorden because the electronic device said it was a road.

He said: "It kept insisting the path was a road even as it was getting narrower and steeper so I just trusted it. You don't expect to be taken nearly over a cliff."

Anyone fancy a game of Spot-the-braincell?

"When there's not a road in front of you, don't keep driving.

"I've heard of lorries getting stuck on village roads before but this really takes a lack of common sense to a whole new level."

A police spokesman said: "Nobody was hurt but when someone nearly drives off a cliff that shows a lack of care which needs to be investigated."

 

[Arch]

"He said: "It kept insisting the path was a road even as it was getting narrower and steeper so I just trusted it. You don't expect to be taken nearly over a cliff."

It kept INSISTING? What, was he having a row with it or what?

"Are you sure this is a road"
"Yes, now carry on"
"Really?"
"YES!"

Dork....

 

[ComedyPilot]

Anyone fancy a game of Spot-the-braincell?

Yeah, but there are none to be found with that prat.

 

[sheddy]

Thats why they call it prat-nav. Does anyone recall the bint who followed instructions onto the railway, or the guy who drove into the river instead of onto the ferry?

 

[Globalti]

It's a road alright - it was just built over about 500 years for thousands of packhorses carrying goods over to the next villages.

Good MTB territory in that valley, it's the home of Singletrack magazine.

 

[Will1985]

It kept INSISTING? What, was he having a row with it or what?

Would you disobey B.A. Baracus?!?

 

[Landslide]

From the comments (none of which, I am glad to see, attempt to defend the eejit in any way whatsoever):

What a clarnet.

What an excellent word!

 

[Night Train]

He probably had the SatNav set for pedestrian. Mine will direct me the wrong way on one way roads and along foot paths if I don't set it for vehicle.
No defence as he is still a dork.

I think if intelligence was a necessity for a driving licence there wouldn't be as many licenced drivers on the road, same number of cars but the stupid people would still drive without just as they do now.

 

[TheDoctor]

I managed to do some off-roading once with a sat-nav. I could clearly see it was a BOAT but it was a bit more suited to a Landy than a small family hatchback. Good laugh though.

I was being a bit of a clarnet,I suppose...

 

[Mr Pig]

My mate and I were standing in the middle of a field, he looked at his hand-held sat-nav and said "according to this, we're on a road!"

My wife was at a church meeting last week. The speaker was really late, turned out his sat-nav had taken him to the wrong town!

 

[TheDoctor]

I know from experience that sat navs get ever so confused if you fire them up on a TGV.
At one point it suggested I turn right, onto a road 20 feet above me, at about 170 mph. Nice trick if you can manage it!

 

[summerdays]

Sat Nav's are good if you are my husband and navigationally challenged. However he does use his brain at the same time, and most of the time he has me beside him telling him to ignore it ... go that way instead.

It was good in Ireland, we were on a new stretch of the motorway just after it opened... the Sat Nav was having kittens... kept asking us to turn around

 

[Cubist]

Not a million miles away from Todmorden here, but unfortunately in a spot between Manchester Road the M62. Despite all the warning signs we get about three trucks a month wedged absolutely solid, as the Sat Navs seem to think you can get an artic and trailer up a 1-in-4 hairpin which is barely wide enough for a Fiesta.

 

[fossyant]

They should learn to use a map first......sheesh - we all know how these systems work - only trust it if what it is saying is what the road signs say (and yes my car came with sat nave and I've been using it for 6 years - fortunately my 'in car' one isn't that stoopid - it sometimes doesn't like the 'shortcuts' though - tends to stick to main roads)...

 

[fossyant]

Look at this one at a village near me (and it's a small village) - there are 6 pics....

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1076760_lorry_stuck_after_sat_nav_blunder