Posted on 05/14/2016 9:23:12 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
Police in Tobermory, Ont., pulled a red car from the harbour early Friday morning after a Kitchener woman followed instructions from her GPS and drove down a boat launch and into the water.
Ontario Provincial Police said the woman was following her GPS "when she took a wrong turn into Little Tub Harbour" late Thursday night.
It was raining, dark and foggy at the time.
Combining "weather conditions and the driver being new to the area, a fully submerged vehicle was the result," police said in a release.
When I lived on my boat in Hawaii, tourists drove rental cars down the boat ramp into the harbor a couple of times a year.
I’m sure you don’t find this a surprise at all.
Tobermory and the surrounding area is a very beautiful portion of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. You have the wonderful Bruce Trail and Peninsula, the Escarpment, Indian Head Cove with the Grotto, and the Flowerpot Islands. After last year’s very cold winter and spring, the water temperature was still about 2 degrees Celsius in June.
A few years ago we bought a GPS to go on a trip. When we got to the address input, we were 4 miles off. I’ve never trusted GPS since.
SpaceX uses GPS on the returning rocket stages and their ocean barge to bring the two together.
yeah
Just wait until “autonomous” cars hit the road. We’ll see a lot more of this.
Thanks to budget cuts, the army is no longer using GPS. The good news is that a 2nd Lt with a map is once again the most dangerous weapon in the Army arsenal.
Some years ago I spent an idyllic long weekend with family in a cabin at Tobermory. Remember running down the dock and jumping into Georgian Bay.
Took my breathe away. By the time I could get out my skin was numb from the cold.
Spent the rest of the weekend drinking Red Cap Ale. Was a fun weekend.
News reader Jessica Savitch bought it doing the same thing long before GPS.
I have driven in many new areas, and never accidentally submerged my vehicle. Common sense has to be lacking to do that, even in low visibility.
Point made.....
Sadly, they are. When going to a new place, I search for maps, review the directions to my desired location, then drive to my destination. I guess I am a throwback. I don’t trust GPS. I would rather get to my general area, then just fumble my way there.
Boaters not consulting Navigational charts can end up on rocks, shoals, and aground by trusting GPS too confidently.
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