GPS navigation steers Utah tourists into trouble

[pmp6nl]

GPS navigation steers Utah tourists into trouble
CANNONVILLE, Utah (AP) — A GPS device led a convoy of tourists astray, finally stranding them on the edge of a sheer cliff.

With little food or water, the group of 10 children and 16 adults from California had to spend a night in their cars deep inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

They used a global positioning device to plot out a backcountry route Saturday from Bryce Canyon National Park to the Grand Canyon.

But the device couldn't tell how rough the roads were. One vehicle got stuck in soft sand, two others ran low on fuel. And the device offered suggestions that led them onto the wrong dirt roads, which ended at a series of cliffs.

The group was so lost it couldn't figure out how to backtrack and started to panic. Kids were crying, and one infant was sick with fever, according to a member of the party.

Read On at http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-08-05-gps-navigation_N.htm?csp=34


Wow, I guess some people dont have any common sense.  GPS is just one of many tools and should be used as such.

[Sal Atticum]

Sounds like they have more problems than just relying too much on GPS.  Like understanding that your car won't drive on all roads, or being able to recognize when things just don't make sense.

[pmp6nl]

Some people...

[zman]

  (Not you pmp, the GPS people)



I guess they have all of those safety pages in manuals for a reason