GPS platform and other factors lead a driver to his death | Ping Tech
Ever since turn-by-turn instructions grew to become out there without spending a dime with Android 2.0 and the launch of the Motorola DROID in 2009, many drivers use Google Maps, Apple Maps, or third-party apps (a few of which do cost) to soundly and rapidly get from level “A” to level “B.” The issue is that we observe these instructions with out eager about how correct they may be.
GPS platform leads 47-year-old man to drive over a bridge that had been washed out for 9 years
In any case, when Apple first launched Apple Maps in 2012, it was a large number. Some international locations, in the event that they had been labeled in any respect, had been incorrectly recognized. And a few instructions in Australia by accident took drivers into the Outback. These following the instructions ended up in an space consisting of roughly 3,000 sq. miles with toxic snakes, temperatures as excessive as 115 levels Fahrenheit, and restricted cellphone protection. Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner apologized and Apple has since constructed its personal a lot improved mapping platform from the bottom up.
Google Maps (L), Apple Maps (R) of the world the place the accident occurred
Now we do not know precisely which GPS platform 47-year-old Philip Paxson was utilizing on the finish of final month when he was driving in North Carolina at night time from a celebration for his older daughter. In accordance with Fox Information, the instructions he was blindly following took him to a bridge that had been out of fee since July 2013 when floods wiped it out. With none warning indicators or barricades (which had allegedly been washed out by a earlier storm), Paxson drove his 2020 Jeep Gladiator on the bridge which took him into the river the place he died.
On Fb, Paxson’s mother-in-law, Linda McPhee Koenig, defined what occurred. “It was a darkish and wet night time and he was following his GPS which led him down a concrete highway to a bridge that dropped off right into a river. The bridge had been destroyed [nine] years in the past and by no means repaired. It lacked any obstacles or warning indicators to forestall the dying of a 47 yr outdated [sic] father of two daughters. He shall be significantly missed by his household and mates. It was a very preventable accident. We’re grieving his dying.”
The household arrange a Go Fund Me web page that claims, “We’re all in shock and disbelief. This was a preventable accident, the bridge he went over at night time had a gaping gap and there have been no barricades. It had been this fashion for a few years. Nobody would take accountability to restore it and now he has to pay the worth. Please pray for our household throughout this most troublesome time.”
What you are able to do to keep away from an identical scenario
Despite the fact that the report notes that the police responded to stories of an overturned automobile in a creek off of a non-public highway, the purpose is that the GPS platform he was utilizing took Paxson to that location. As one other considered one of Paxson’s family members mentioned, “He didn’t fall off a bridge. He didn’t drive off a bridge. He drove to his dying via that 20 [foot] ravine.”
Picture of the bridge taken from WCNC Information
There’s a lesson to be discovered right here, however it’s laborious to stick to. If you happen to plan on driving in an space that you simply won’t be conversant in, particularly at night time, you would possibly wish to name the police close to your vacation spot and ask if there are any bridges out alongside the route. Whereas this may need been a particularly uncommon scenario, you do not wish to all of the sudden understand that you have pushed on a bridge that’s not lively.
And there are many establishments that should be blamed right here. Even when it was on a non-public highway, there ought to have been indicators or barricades to forestall any autos from getting close to the bridge. And the report would not point out which GPS platform was concerned on this accident, however no matter who was accountable for the defective navigation, you possibly can’t escape the truth that it was nighttime, visibility was impacted by the rain, and the motive force was led to the bridge by the GPS platform he used.
WCNC quoted Kayla Bubar, Paxson’s sister-in-law, as saying that “He took a left and that left went to that bridge to nowhere, which is what they known as it since 2013 when that bridge washed away and nobody took accountability to get that bridge fastened.”
As we have said, the highway reveals up on GPS. Bubar defined why her now deceased brother-in-law may need had punched within the highway with the bridge. “He might have simply put it within the GPS and gone this fashion as a result of all the neighbors say the quickest approach out of right here is that approach. And most of the people select the quickest approach. My sister’s pal drove as much as that edge a number of instances however fortunately it was daytime.”
That is one thing that may have simply occurred to any considered one of us.
– GPS platform and other factors lead a driver to his death
