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Post by Graveyardbride on Jan 24, 2018 12:21:42 GMT -5
Google’s Waze Directs Jeep to the Bottom of Lake Champlain
It sounds like a breathtaking scene from a movie: Friends from Connecticut on a ski vacation in Vermont get lost, turn on their GPS and next thing you know, they find themselves in a lake. Well, that’s exactly what happened earlier this month.
“I was speechless,” said Tara Guertin, owner of the Jeep that had an unexpected run-in with Lake Champlain. “My first thing was, ‘Is everybody OK?’ because this could have had a very bad ending and luckily, everybody was alright.”
According to Guertin, her three pals were following directions provided by Google’s Waze as they drove through fog and rain on Friday, January 12. Waze GPS combines pre-set directions with updates from users on everything from traffic slowdowns to speed traps to steer drivers in the right direction.
Except it wasn’t the right direction: It was right off a boat launch near a local Coast Guard station into the icy waters of Lake Champlain. Luckily, all three occupants managed to escape. Of course, the vehicle sank to the bottom of the lake.
Donley’s Underwater Salvage called in diver Pierre Larocque, who said the job presented some challenges. Nevertheless, on Monday, January 22, Larocque began his difficult task: flipping the vehicle over and then pulling it out – all underwater. “Typically, when a vehicle goes through the ice,” he explained, “it goes down nose first. The weight of the engine takes it down.” But he doesn’t remove a lot of cars from waterways in the wintertime because of the ice. However, a sunken vehicle in this particular location at the Coast Guard station is dangerous because vessels could hit it with disastrous results.
After 10 days and five hours, the Jeep finally emerged from the water and now that her vehicle is out of the lake, Guertin is happy to put this unpleasant experience behind her. “I’m like amazed, and I think I’m going to have to buy him [Larocque] a bottle of something,” she said.
Sources: Connor Cyrus, WCAX, January 22, 2018, and Jenn Girman, Newser, January 24, 2018.
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Post by kitty on Jan 24, 2018 13:30:57 GMT -5
Didn't some people die because their GPS directed them out into the desert?
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Post by natalie on Jan 24, 2018 16:59:47 GMT -5
C'mon now, as you're driving onto a boat launch, how can you NOT tell that this isn't a road and you should stop and turn around? It'd be the same as driving on a marina's pier. If anything, get out and check before driving further but if you see that you're surrounded by water, where do you think you will end up? I remember some Asian tourists drove into the bay in Australia some years ago, because Google Maps told them to; here is the article: www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/gps-tourists-australia_n_1363823.html. I have had Google Maps telling me I can go straight at a dead end road that had a wall, but I have never said "oh well, the GPS says to go straight, so let me drive into the wall." I turn around and find another way to get to my destination. Seems to me that the world is just becoming dumber and if the GPS told them to drive off a cliff, they would. |
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Post by madeline on Jan 24, 2018 18:55:39 GMT -5
C'mon now, as you're driving onto a boat launch, how can you NOT tell that this isn't a road and you should stop and turn around?
When you're driving in the rain and fog on a narrow, winding country road in New England.
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Post by Joanna on Jan 25, 2018 4:56:37 GMT -5
C'mon now, as you're driving onto a boat launch, how can you NOT tell that this isn't a road and you should stop and turn around? It'd be the same as driving on a marina's pier. If anything, get out and check before driving further but if you see that you're surrounded by water, where do you think you will end up? I remember some Asian tourists drove into the bay in Australia some years ago, because Google Maps told them to; here is the article: www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/gps-tourists-australia_n_1363823.html. I have had Google Maps telling me I can go straight at a dead end road that had a wall, but I have never said "oh well, the GPS says to go straight, so let me drive into the wall." I turn around and find another way to get to my destination. Seems to me that the world is just becoming dumber and if the GPS told them to drive off a cliff, they would. |
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Post by steve on Jan 25, 2018 19:15:20 GMT -5
Although I've lived in Maine all my life and we get lots of rain, snow and fog, I still get lost on unfamiliar roads. If there's snow on the ground, everything in every direction is white, and if it's snowing or raining, it's difficult to tell where you are. If it's foggy, you can get lost even if you're familiar with the area. I remember once up in Aroostook County, there was heavy fog and sleet and we discovered we were driving through someone's field and not on the highway we were supposed to take. In snow, you can't always tell if you're driving on pavement or dirt. Thank God we came to a gate and turned around and didn't drive into a pond or stream. When you're driving or walking in fog, snow or rain and there's snow on the ground and ponds and lakes are iced over, they look like the rest of the landscape and you can't tell where the land ends and the water begins. GPS is fine as long as you're on major highways, but I wouldn't trust it on the back roads of New England in the wintertime. I can relate to that. I live in New York. |
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