Posted on 10/08/2022 3:37:51 PM PDT by george76
The Hickory bridge had been inoperative for about nine years, and any barricades had been washed away
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A North Carolina man is dead after his GPS led him to a defunct bridge that dropped off into a creek on Sept. 30.
Phillip Paxson, a 47-year-old father of two girls, had been driving his Jeep at night from his oldest daughter's birthday party in Hickory when his GPS led him to a bridge that has been inoperative since heavy flooding in July 2013 destroyed it.
"It was a dark and rainy night and he was following his GPS which led him down a concrete road to a bridge that dropped off into a river," Paxson's mother-in-law, Linda McPhee Koenig, said in a Tuesday Facebook post. "The bridge had been destroyed [nine] years ago and never repaired. It lacked any barriers or warning signs to prevent the death of a 47 year old [sic] father of two daughters. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. It was a totally preventable accident. We are grieving his death."
Now, Paxson's family is trying to bring attention to the tragedy they believe could have been avoided with proper maintenance or even just signage and barricades from the city warning drivers not to drive toward the bridge.
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"This was a preventable accident, the bridge he went over at night had a gaping hole and their were no barricades
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locals have established a makeshift memorial, told the outlet. "He drove to his death through that 20 [foot] ravine."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
You can’t fix stupid.
Yea, the last time I was stupid enough to use the wonderful smartphone navigation it was running a second or two late
Turn right…back there.
I drive 40,000 plus miles a year, mostly in places I’ve never been. I use a dashboard GPS.
In this case, a paper map would have failed too. A bridge out for years with no signage or barricades is a failure on the part of the county or state.
Let me guess Android?
Going down some two lane county road I passed a small road cone in the middle of the road between the two lanes. I was doing maybe 40mph in a 55mph sone. I saw flashing blue lights maybe a half mile up the road (hard to tell in the dark). I figured I’d slow roll up to the cop and ask him if the road was open, and if he could figure out which roads would take me to my destination (as some roads were closed/closing). But, the road cone worried me, so I stopped (probably 100yds past it). I decided to get out and walk to the cop car. Another 50-100yds and the road was completely gone; 10-15 ft drop into rushing water.
In the dark with the wind and rain, I didn’t see the road was gone until I was on top of it while walking…..if I would’ve kept driving - I would’ve never stood a chance; probably would’ve killed my wife, son, and myself. If that road cone would’ve blown away/over - same deal.
As it was, I was less than 12 miles from my destination - the road closures etc, it took another 3 1/2 hrs to get to where I was going. I called the county sheriff, and they had to ask two other counties to get the exact combo of roads (and apparently only way from “here” to “there”)…..with the unexpected results of the storm - they were scrambling to do anything to mark flooded/washed out roads.
I certainly don’t fault the man in the article - sometimes you can try to do everything right, and it still all goes to pot. By the Grace of God, that little road cone was there and gnawed at me to stop.
Whatever was in my friend’s car.
Why was he stupid?
No markers and on a rainy night he would have had no way of knowing the bridge was out.
Let’s spend more money on Ukraine while US infrastructure keeps falling apart and is never repaired. Jackson, Miss.
for one. I bet there are many more.
I saw a town in Florida put up a Ukraine flag hoping it would get them help after Ian.
Wow.
I actually have kept it for my music these past several years, but sometimes I miss the navigation.
How was he stupid?
He did nothing wrong.
Those that exclusively follow their car or phone’s GPS/Google maps will at some point end up in a bad situation. I learned that the hard way. We were traveling, it was after midnight and we were tired. I was giving my husband instructions based on my phone’s directions. Those directions told us to take an exit off the freeway into the worse part of town and into the most deadliest neighborhoods in that town. Never again! I learned my lesson. Do not trust GPS!
Thanks for the link with pics. Do you think he drowned?
I have come to the conclusion, people who drive anything Jeep, are some of the most assuredly stupid people on the roads. Right up there with the really stupid who drive blue dodge caravans or Chrysler's. They far out stupid the BMW drivers. Jeepsters are Far far more stupid.
Barricades can be maliciously moved or destroyed and with all the flooding, the county may be short on them. Or they were without the yellow lights or the batteries may have died
I’ve let our county used our company barricades during flooding before and have seen first hand all the things I mention
Thin that herd, boy!
A North Carolina man is dead after his GPS led him to a defunct bridge that dropped off into a creek on Sept. 30.
A North Carolina man is dead after his GPS led him to a defunct bridge that dropped off into a creek on Sept. 30.
He died.
The only “stupid” here was the road commission who did not put up huge cement barriers.
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