Northern Thailand: GPS led Bangkok tourists into the abyss - four seriously injured

 

Image: 77kaoded

 

77kaoded reported that a group of tourists being driven around by a driver from Bangkok ended up careening down a hillside in Nan province in the north of Thailand. 

 

GPS was blamed for guiding them to a treacherous stretch of road in Na Meun district between Nan and Phrae. 

 

Local officials, police and hospital rescue teams were soon on the scene on Thursday evening and found a 38 year old man and three passengers, two aged 30, with serious injuries. 

 

They had been travelling in a Mitsubishi Strada pick-up adapted for off road conditions. They were on their way from Nan to Uttaradit. 

 

Their GPS had led them to the area, said the media, and due to their unfamiliarity with the driving conditions they had plunged down the hillside. 

 

Source: 77kaoded

 

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That is quite possible depending on how the GPS was set up. If it was set for no main highways and off roading then it was not the fault of the GPS but that of the driver and whoever set up the GPS.

Where ever the GPS guides you, driving is still reliant on a switch on person behind the wheel. 

 

This is just crappy driving... the GPS leading them to a poorer quality road is nothing more than attempted deflection from basic human error. 

the car, the road, the GPS. nothing is responsible for this incident except for humans. 

 

 

Operator error

Just try using GPS in an area you know well and listen to all the crazy stuff the GPS lady tells you to do.  It can be funny when she tells you to turn down a road which you know is blocked or under construction but not so funny if you actually do what she tells you.

R4010?

 

https://www.gt-rider.com/se-asia-motorcycling/threads/4010-not-for-the-faint-of-heart.15088/

 

 

 

I'm confused as to why people believe GPS over the 100 yards visibility in front of them

40 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I'm confused as to why people believe GPS over the 100 yards visibility in front of them

Because its a new toy.

45 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I'm confused as to why people believe GPS over the 100 yards visibility in front of them

 

That's my wife to a tee... 

She will swear blind that I need to turn now, even though I can see that the turn is 300m further and the big green sign tells me everything I need to know !!

She's a lovely lady ????

16 hours ago, rooster59 said:

GPS was blamed for guiding them to a treacherous stretch of road in Na Meun district between Nan and Phrae. 

As you use your GPS navigator you no longer have to keep an eye on where you go?

I've never used a gps always relied on a paper map, always arrived at my destination. What's wrong with people nowadays?

Thank God the world has been explored by men with intelligence, intuition, imagination, courage and absolutely no need for a bloody GPS. 

 

As usual, not own fault. GPS fault, road fault, car fault, everything other than ownself. 

18 hours ago, rooster59 said:

GPS was blamed for guiding them to a treacherous stretch of road in Na Meun district between Nan and Phrae.

And the police swallow it hook, line and sinker!  Every time!

1 hour ago, shady86 said:

As usual, not own fault. GPS fault, road fault, car fault, everything other than ownself. 

If you have ever used a GPS away from the cities it was more than likely the fault of the GPS (not rolling down a hillside) but putting you in the wrong place.

I always remember my Garmin (before it died after 13 months) when on my way to Loei. A T-intersection was coming up and the GPS and road signs told me to turn right. Immediately after turning right the GPS was saying to do a u-turn and would not re-calibrate the route. Had to turn it off as it was useless.

19 hours ago, billd766 said:

That is quite possible depending on how the GPS was set up. If it was set for no main highways and off roading then it was not the fault of the GPS but that of the driver and whoever set up the GPS.

I don't blame the GPS, driver still need to do decisions where to go. This wasnt the first time in here.

2 hours ago, Vacuum said:

I've never used a gps always relied on a paper map, always arrived at my destination. What's wrong with people nowadays?

To each their own. 

OMG. I remember those days of driver distraction by paper maps. My X, master navigator, used to get so upset because the street she was looking for was usually in the crevice between 2 pages. 

Love this era of GPS !

Just another case of the Thai brain failure !

26 minutes ago, neeray said:

OMG. I remember those days of driver distraction by paper maps. My X, master navigator, used to get so upset because the street she was looking for was usually in the crevice between 2 pages.

lol, yes having a "navigator" can result in a "X".

20 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Their GPS had led them to the area, said the media, and due to their unfamiliarity with the driving conditions they had plunged down the hillside.

Guess it was a bit different from the usual traffic jam in Bangkok on a 4-lane road!

 

Google maps is out of date by a few years where I live. Also a small bridge being rebuilt was still passable according to the Maps app but is simply not there.

A watery fate awaits drivers.?

20 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Where ever the GPS guides you, driving is still reliant on a switch on person behind the wheel. 

 

This is just crappy driving... the GPS leading them to a poorer quality road is nothing more than attempted deflection from basic human error. 

 perhaps they believe they can close their eyes and just listen to gps speaking where to turn??  add a few good luck pendants and can just take a knap until arrival at destination

Very steep road indeed. Not suitable for big busses though. Video of ride on the said road taken November 2018.

 

 

The MITSU was adapted for off road. Seems it did its job and took them off road....????

 

Probably jacked up and it tipped...

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

lol, yes having a "navigator" can result in a "X".

Haha. That was never an issue. Navigating was one of her 3 great talents. Cooking was also one.

...............

3 hours ago, Thailand Noobie said:

I don't blame the GPS, driver still need to do decisions where to go. This wasnt the first time in here.

I can set up my GPS in various modes to take the shortest, quickest, avoiding major highways, normal or high resolution, speaker on or off, a choice of languages etc. Once I have set it up I generally keep an eye on it every so often, but mostly on the road ahead. Several times it has put me in the wrong part of a road and I have had to backtrack and find an alternative route but it has never put me over a cliff yet.

It does get a bit confused along the BangNa Trat highway as it can't tell the expressway above from the highway directly below.

2 hours ago, transam said:

The MITSU was adapted for off road. Seems it did its job and took them off road....????

 

Probably jacked up and it tipped...

I call things like that Tonka toys.

This is by no means anything other than a true little story. Certainly not in support of the above story. I use my GPS all the time, but admittedly mostly for other functions like ETA. I have found it amazing as what is often programmed in the Thai mapping system. One day, broad daylight, I decided to actually follow my GPS given instructions, despite knowing they were wrong but totally curious where it would lead me.... I actually wound up out on a farm, field access road, complete with deep ruts, following the plowed contures of the corn fields I was surrounded by. It was fun! But to this day I have no idea how that path ever got programmed as a "road"! As usual, let common sense be your guiding light.

18 hours ago, billd766 said:

I can set up my GPS in various modes to take the shortest, quickest, avoiding major highways, normal or high resolution, speaker on or off, a choice of languages etc. Once I have set it up I generally keep an eye on it every so often, but mostly on the road ahead. Several times it has put me in the wrong part of a road and I have had to backtrack and find an alternative route but it has never put me over a cliff yet.

It does get a bit confused along the BangNa Trat highway as it can't tell the expressway above from the highway directly below.

Yeah never blindly trust the GPS, in here many times it can give wrong path or the path which even dosen't exists haha.