never-trust-your-GPS horror stories

[texaskdog]

http://gpstracklog.com/2015/03/gps-leads-bus-on-400-mile-detour.html

[PHLBOS]

However, the bus driver accidentally selected the wrong destination on his GPS and ended up driving the opposite direction.

Clearly user-error in the above-case.

[jeffandnicole]

If there was any of us on that bus, he would've have gone a kilometer before we just took the wheel ourselves.

[PHLBOS]

If there was any of us on that bus, he would've have gone a kilometer before we just took the wheel ourselves.

Amen to that.

[texaskdog]

If there was any of us on that bus, he would've have gone a kilometer before we just took the wheel ourselves.

Amen to that.

For sure.  I sure can't tolerate people going the wrong way.

[wxfree]

This topic is old, but the title being plural seems to be an invitation for other stories.

These are screen shots from a Snapchat video.  According to the map, this is beside TX 137 north of Ozona.  The first two have a text description.  This driver was very determined to follow instructions.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Not really a horror story, but in fall 2015 I was driving to San Antonio. I had booked a Super 8 near the north I-35/410 junction. As I drew nearer the GPS destination, I saw a Super 8 off the frontage road and I said "is that it? well the GPS indicated no" so I kept going further to where my GPS told me to go thinking maybe there was another Super 8 nearby.

There was no Super 8 at the "destination", and the one I saw before was indeed the correct one. Where I got off of I-35 thiinking the hotel was off there was not the nicest part of San Antonio, either, but thank goodness it was only late afternoon.

[Max Rockatansky]

[Flint1979]

Never put your GPS on avoid toll roads in the mountains just pay the toll and take the quicker way. About six years ago I was going to North Carolina from Michigan with my dad and a friend of ours. As we're traveling I'm noticing that the GPS is taking us a rather strange way. It took us up in the mountains of West Virginia to avoid the West Virginia Turnpike, after we got to North Carolina I told my dad that the GPS was on avoid toll roads and there was a toll road in West Virginia that it was avoiding. We were on this road that was switch backing all over the place and there was a curve on this road to avoid running into a house you could tell the curve was there just because the house was there as well. I was wondering why it didn't take us on the Ohio Turnpike to I-77 south instead it routed us to take I-75 to Findlay, Ohio then take US-68 and OH-15 to US-23 through Columbus and onto US-33 towards West Virginia then up into the mountains.

About four years ago I was in Texas and I set my GPS to take me to a Walmart. I ended up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.

[OracleUsr]

I was in Asheville and only used my GPS to let me know the quicker of two routes to a restaurant near the UNC-A campus, and it took me through a hotel parking lot.  Now I know US 25 is the better route (and the restaurant sucked anyway).

[kennyshark]

The Magellan GPS my wife had in 2010 took us through a hospital parking lot in Morgantown, WV, while en route from the SE corner of PA to the Morgantown Courtyard by Marriot.  Several weeks later, on the way back from Lake Michigan to Big Rapids, MI, Mr. Magellan took us on a "seasonal road" which was essentially a dirt path through a cornfield.

[Flint1979]

The Magellan GPS my wife had in 2010 took us through a hospital parking lot in Morgantown, WV, while en route from the SE corner of PA to the Morgantown Courtyard by Marriot.  Several weeks later, on the way back from Lake Michigan to Big Rapids, MI, Mr. Magellan took us on a "seasonal road" which was essentially a dirt path through a cornfield.

I got on a road like that in the thumb one time about 2-3 years ago. It said it was a seasonal road but I thought it was fine. I ended up going between two cornfields lol. I'm thinking it was somewhere in between Caseville and Port Austin.

[epzik8]

Around 2011, my dad and now-stepmom were in Havre de Grace, Maryland to see sights, and then my now-stepmom wanted to see some point of interest in White Hall in Baltimore County. She followed the Mazda CX-9's GPS to I-95 from exit 89 in Harford County to the outer loop of the I-695 Beltway at Rosedale, then hit up I-83 at Timonium and exited at 31, Middletown Road. My dad was pissed: "You went at least half an hour out of our way! Turn off the GPS and get an idea of where you're going!"  He showed her how to take MD-155 out of Havre de Grace to MD-22 at Churchville, follow that to Prospect Mill Road (a corner-cutter to MD-543), then 543 north to U.S. 1 south to the very next light at MD-23, then 23 to MD-165 and back to 23 at Jarrettsville, and finally left on White Hall Road into Baltimore County.

[abefroman329]

The Uber Driver app is forever trying to send me down alleys in Chicago.

[hotdogPi]

The Uber Driver app is forever trying to send me down alleys in Chicago.

Is there a problem with that? If it's faster, legal (turn restrictions, etc.), and takes traffic off the main roads, it's better than a GPS that stays on the main roads.

[PHLBOS]

The Uber Driver app is forever trying to send me down alleys in Chicago.

Is there a problem with that? If it's faster, legal (turn restrictions, etc.), and takes traffic off the main roads, it's better than a GPS that stays on the main roads.

If the alleys in Chicago are anything like those in Philadelphia; potential crime element aside, they're narrow, not always paved & require a much slower speed to pass through.

[abefroman329]

they're narrow, not always paved & require a much slower speed to pass through.

This, plus they're frequently blocked by vehicles parked illegally and I don't really think they're intended for through traffic.

[bzakharin]

The closest I have to one of those was trying to find the Atlantic City Airport. It wasn't really a GPS-only situation as the signage was confusing and most of the locals had no idea how to get there or gave conflicting directions, but the GPS constantly led me to a road that wasn't there (or rather dead ended at an obstruction that wasn't shown). I finally made it 15 minutes before the flight was to depart. Lucky for me it's a small airport and there was no line through security, so I made it. That must have been ~10 years ago.

Now when I had to drop off and pick up my parents there last year, I had absolutely no issue finding it, possibly because I work in that general area now. Signage-wise, I think this is the problematic point:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.4314719,-74.5785217,3a,75y,70.77h,77.81t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s7qB_nFST6rp3mCeIOvXHBA!2e0!5s20170701T000000!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1
At all other exits off of the circle prior to this there are signs telling you which way the airport is. When you reach this point you don't know whether you missed your turn or not.

[Flint1979]

The Uber Driver app is forever trying to send me down alleys in Chicago.

Is there a problem with that? If it's faster, legal (turn restrictions, etc.), and takes traffic off the main roads, it's better than a GPS that stays on the main roads.

If the alleys in Chicago are anything like those in Philadelphia; potential crime element aside, they're narrow, not always paved & require a much slower speed to pass through.

A lot of the alleys in Chicago are like that. Better to just stay on the main streets.

[ipeters61]

One time I was on a Greyhound between Philadelphia and NYC (on my way home to Hartford) and there were plenty of VMS warnings that the NJ Turnpike was closed north of Exit 8 (going back to Exit 6 or so).

What do you think the bus driver did?

Oh right, they stayed on the NJ Turnpike and made us sit in traffic for 90 minutes.

This was about four years ago, no clue how the driver was navigating or if it was GPS related.

[PHLBOS]

One time I was on a Greyhound between Philadelphia and NYC (on my way home to Hartford) and there were plenty of VMS warnings that the NJ Turnpike was closed north of Exit 8 (going back to Exit 6 or so).

What do you think the bus driver did?

Oh right, they stayed on the NJ Turnpike and made us sit in traffic for 90 minutes.

This was about four years ago, no clue how the driver was navigating or if it was GPS related.

One has to wonder whether that had more to do with either following a strict policy (if Greyhound has one) on not deviating from the main route for any reason or the fact that the bus driver was completely unfamiliar with the area outside to the Turnpike.

That said, depending on where the incident that triggered the closure was located; the driver could've used US 130 as an alternate route (to US 1 to I-287 if the Turnpike incident location was further north).

[webny99]

If there was any of us on that bus, he would've have gone a kilometer before we just took the wheel ourselves.

Are you sure he would have made it a full kilometer? 



On a related note, I had some friends who were returning from Rochester to the Toronto area, and decided to take NY 104 home. Unfortunately for them, they got on the freeway headed east, and got nearly to I-81 before they realized they should have headed west! 
They were commenting, though, on how scenic and high-quality of a road it was - I wonder what they would have thought had they followed it through Greece and the western suburbs as they intended to. 
They never actually did it - they lost so much time that once they got back to Rochester 3 hours later they opted for the Thruway!

[kphoger]

One time I was on a Greyhound between Philadelphia and NYC (on my way home to Hartford) and there were plenty of VMS warnings that the NJ Turnpike was closed north of Exit 8 (going back to Exit 6 or so).

What do you think the bus driver did?

Oh right, they stayed on the NJ Turnpike and made us sit in traffic for 90 minutes.

This was about four years ago, no clue how the driver was navigating or if it was GPS related.

One has to wonder whether that had more to do with either following a strict policy (if Greyhound has one) on not deviating from the main route for any reason or the fact that the bus driver was completely unfamiliar with the area outside to the Turnpike.

That said, depending on where the incident that triggered the closure was located; the driver could've used US 130 as an alternate route (to US 1 to I-287 if the Turnpike incident location was further north).

I've had a Greyhound driver shout over his shoulder to ask if anybody knew how to get to the Chicago bus terminal.  I've also seen Greyhound buses enter Wichita from the same direction on more than one route.  So I'm not so sure there's such a thing as "the main route" for Greyhound drivers to take.



Eureka Springs, AR, has several nonexistent streets that show up on GPS navigation systems.  A local told me it's because the streets were surveyed and mapped but never actually constructed.  I wasn't sure how much to believe it until my wife and I were walking to a restaurant the next day, and the street I intended to take after looking at Google Maps ... wasn't there.  In a place where the ground is flat and the roads are wide, that wouldn't be such a problem.  But Eureka Springs is not that kind of place.

[ipeters61]

One time I was on a Greyhound between Philadelphia and NYC (on my way home to Hartford) and there were plenty of VMS warnings that the NJ Turnpike was closed north of Exit 8 (going back to Exit 6 or so).

What do you think the bus driver did?

Oh right, they stayed on the NJ Turnpike and made us sit in traffic for 90 minutes.

This was about four years ago, no clue how the driver was navigating or if it was GPS related.

One has to wonder whether that had more to do with either following a strict policy (if Greyhound has one) on not deviating from the main route for any reason or the fact that the bus driver was completely unfamiliar with the area outside to the Turnpike.

That said, depending on where the incident that triggered the closure was located; the driver could've used US 130 as an alternate route (to US 1 to I-287 if the Turnpike incident location was further north).

I've had a Greyhound driver shout over his shoulder to ask if anybody knew how to get to the Chicago bus terminal.  I've also seen Greyhound buses enter Wichita from the same direction on more than one route.  So I'm not so sure there's such a thing as "the main route" for Greyhound drivers to take.

Now I'm going to talk about Peter Pan (pre-separation from Greyhound): going from Hartford to NYC it seemed like every driver would take a different route, likewise for NYC to Hartford (some would take the Lincoln Tunnel back to the NJ Turnpike to the GW Bridge, some would take local NYC roads up to I-95/I-278, I remember one took the Lincoln Tunnel to NJ-3 to the GS Parkway to the Tappan Zee, etc).

[abefroman329]

One time I was on a Greyhound between Philadelphia and NYC (on my way home to Hartford) and there were plenty of VMS warnings that the NJ Turnpike was closed north of Exit 8 (going back to Exit 6 or so).

What do you think the bus driver did?

Oh right, they stayed on the NJ Turnpike and made us sit in traffic for 90 minutes.

This was about four years ago, no clue how the driver was navigating or if it was GPS related.

One has to wonder whether that had more to do with either following a strict policy (if Greyhound has one) on not deviating from the main route for any reason or the fact that the bus driver was completely unfamiliar with the area outside to the Turnpike.

That said, depending on where the incident that triggered the closure was located; the driver could've used US 130 as an alternate route (to US 1 to I-287 if the Turnpike incident location was further north).

The Chinatown buses sure didn't have a policy that they had to follow a particular route no matter what. I was also on one that ran out of gas and had to stop at a service area on the Jersey Turnpike for more.