Now we are not saying that there is something sinister or evil about the GPS system you probably use regularly in your car but three men, the driver and his two passengers, have died after following Google Map directions that took them off the end of an unfinished bridge. Honestly it would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic.
The directions took them over a bridge that spans the Ramganga River, a tributary of the Ganges that flows from the Himalayas and is in between Delhi and Lucknow, which had been partially washed away during seasonal flooding early this year.
According to a report in The economic Times, the men, who were on their way northwards to Uttar Pradesh, were directed onto the unlit bridge at night by the Google navigation app. and didn’t see the gaping chasm in front of them. Which of course led to their untimely demise.
Pictures circulating on line show onlookers examining the scene at the end of the abruptly ending bridge which has a span some twenty feet off the river bed. The report quotes a local official who claimed that the group of travellers was using Google Maps up to the point when they came to an abrupt stop.
Of course there have been many such cases of people following the navigation system and then getting into trouble.
I have read of pensioners driving into rivers or the wrong way down a one-way street. Last year in North Carolina a similar incident happened in South Carolina which led to a law suite for negligence after another driver attempted to cross an unfinished bridge. In that case, the bridge had been closed due to collapse for nine years though.
Of course, our sympathies go out to the families of the victims in any case like this, but it should be a lesson to all of us – keep your eyes open when driving.
