Death by GPS

In the ancient world, the kings and queens of some of the most powerful empires that have ever existed were called to make decisions that affected the future of their kingdoms. Should they plant the harvest early? Will they go to war with the neighboring empire? When will the rains come this season? If only they could tell the future. Well, they could.

In the ancient world the art of prophecy was a respected tradition, and no prophet was more respected than the Oracle of Delphi. The dexterity of the prophets in crafting their predictions was amazing. Ambiguous verses were interpreted by hopeful kings to rationalize their chosen actions. Kingdoms rose and fell, all “fulfilling” the prophecies of the Oracle.

Today's Oracle’s, called upon by the common people, are heeded with all the certainty and vigor of the prophets of old. Alexa, when is the hockey game? Google, how do I fix my car? Siri, how to I get to the store. We ask, they instruct.

In 2017, an elderly couple, Helena, 78, and Gerald, 76, Butler, traveling on their vacation in Utah, survived a six day ordeal when they drove their rental car from Kanab, Utah to Lake Powell, and followed directions from their GPS onto a unpaved path with various washouts, rocks and drops. And even when, following their personal Oracle, the couple got stuck, they continued to obey the GPS down the wrong road.

Not all obedient travelers are so lucky. In 2015, a Chicago woman was killed after her husband followed their car’s GPS navigation off a partially demolished bridge that has been closed since 2009. Zohra Hussain, 51, died after their Nissan Sentra fell more than 37 feet off the old bridge and burst into flames. Her husband, Iftikhar Hussain, 64, survived the fall and managed to escape the couple’s car.

The tiny village of Barrow Gurney, England, has a unique problem. At the root of the issue lies the fact that some navigation maps used by trucks are the same as those used by passenger cars, and they don’t contain data on road width or no-truck zones. Barrow Gurney happens to be positioned quite conveniently between the English Channel Tunnel and London. By order of their trusty Oracle’s, large commercial trucks from Europe gleefully launch themselves down quaint village lanes hundreds of years old, wistfully ripping canopy’s and signs off the front of village shops and frightening the children along the street.

Barrow Gurney has asked GPS map publisher Tele Atlas to remove them from the company’s map. Tele Atlas says they will release truck-appropriate databases at some point, but until then they advise local governments to make use of a technology dating back to the Romans: road signs.

Our reliance on technology is absolute. We obey our prophetic devices and sometimes forget that sometimes we need to look out the window and apply some common sense.