Western Railroad Discussion > Amtrak SW Chief hit car Amboy, BNSF Needles Sub

I'm on #4 at Amboy, we are waiting for a tow truck to collect the car we just hit at the National Trails Hwy crossing. Appears the car's GPS told the driver to turn onto the tracks where they got stuck in the ballast. No one injured.

Posted from iPhone

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/17 23:45 by CimaScrambler.

This is why regular maps are still better.  People who rely only on GPS are vulnerable.  Know your trip plan, look at good maps, then proceed.  Too much blind faith in GPS stuff.

SBD county sheriff and CHP and tow truck now on scene, conductor reports "engine not damaged and fully functional ". as third westbound gets by on track 1.

Posted from iPhone

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/17 00:52 by CimaScrambler.

Just heard a report of another vehicle hit at Saltus, track 2 blocked. This is crazy!

Posted from iPhone

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

One messed up service truck bent around the pilot of a westbound on the north track at Saltus. We just squeezed by. we lost right around five hours because of two vehicles on the tracks within five miles in the middle of nowhere tonight.

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/17 12:30 by CimaScrambler.

coach Wrote:
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> This is why regular maps are still better.
>  People who rely only on GPS are vulnerable.
>  Know your trip plan, look at good maps, then
> proceed.  Too much blind faith in GPS stuff.

Sorry, but a GPS is just a tool, like a physical map. Both can be mis-read or mis-understood.

Please do not remove blame from the person driving.

CimaScrambler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just heard a report of another vehicle hit at
> Saltus, track 2 blocked. This is crazy!
>
> Posted from iPhone


At the private crossing? It's been one of those weeks...

CBS reported more people are found to have evidence of drug use than alcohol use in post-accident testing.

First year that's happened.

Posted from Android

I wonder if these GPS addicts try to sue Tomtom or Garmin when their so called instructions are that stupid.

Posted from Android

I wonder if people that can't get around without GPS are actually smart enough to follow instructions from a GPS?

These are pretty remote locations. It's not like they have a thousand cars an hour over these crossings. At night, no less.

The only Silver lining is, that because the Train is late, those on board will get to enjoy seeing places that would usually be dark , will now be visible

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is why regular maps are still better.
>  People who rely only on GPS are vulnerable.
>  Know your trip plan, look at good maps, then
> proceed.  Too much blind faith in GPS stuff.

Never trust software....I have been in IT for 40 years......God help us when Abu loads a software update to your driver less car....!!!!!!

I like having a map when I am driving long distances but for city driving GPS apps are the way to go.

Posted from Android

GPS can be a good tool to help you figure out where you are on a paper map. The paper map, however, still gives you a much broader perspective and helps you understand your environment. Although it didn't happen this time, people have died relying on GPS alone. I have found people lost on trails in the Columbia River Gorge (a very popular area for hikers of all levels of experience) because they were using a phone GPS app and didn't realize that they could lose their data service. That would not have happened if they'd had a good map with them and known how to use it.

BobB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GPS can be a good tool to help you figure out
> where you are on a paper map. The paper map,
> however, still gives you a much broader
> perspective and helps you understand your
> environment. Although it didn't happen this time,
> people have died relying on GPS alone. I have
> found people lost on trails in the Columbia River
> Gorge (a very popular area for hikers of all
> levels of experience) because they were using a
> phone GPS app and didn't realize that they could
> lose their data service. That would not have
> happened if they'd had a good map with them and
> known how to use it.

While I do not use printed maps anymore, what I do use is a lot of common sense. In an urban area, using a GPS along with common sense works 98% of the time. However, if I am ever going to travel to a non-urban area, I research ahead of time by using Google Maps on a computer including view satalite images. If I am going someplace way off that is not easy to write down or print the directions, I will print out the Google Map Satalite images for reference, like the time I had to pickup a car in Hackberry, AZ

But the main thing is you to use common sense. Sadly, it seems like a wide majority of the US population does not know what that is, nor is it beign taught in schools.

Common sense? Not used anymore. Look around, see the people, SEE ALL THE IDIOTS! Like a ball of fish in the ocean, there is safety in numbers. But soon we won't need any common sense anymore when we go nowhere (everything is on the tube), shop at home only, manufacture NOTHING on our own, and have someone else (the TV set) babysit our children. We do so little ourselves. Soon we won't even have to worry about driving at all, can't wait for that! Everything is done by someone else, that's okay. We'll just sue them if it's done wrong. It's the end of the World as we know it! (Credits to R.E.M.).

Ed

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> coach Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > This is why regular maps are still better.
> >  People who rely only on GPS are vulnerable.
> >  Know your trip plan, look at good maps, then
> > proceed.  Too much blind faith in GPS stuff.
>
> Sorry, but a GPS is just a tool, like a physical
> map. Both can be mis-read or mis-understood.
>
> Please do not remove blame from the person
> driving.

A gps is not like a physical map. If you use a map you engage with the physical world and have to use your eyes and then make decisions yourself. The GPS makes decisions for you, like 'turn onto the tracks'. Someone using a map is much less likely to turn onto the tracks because a map book will not instruct a person to turn onto the tracks.
'Coach' was still blaming the person/numpty using the gps, because their decision to rely on the gps was made by the numpty in question.

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A gps is not like a physical map. If you use a map
> you engage with the physical world and have to use
> your eyes and then make decisions yourself. The
> GPS makes decisions for you, like 'turn onto the
> tracks'. Someone using a map is much less likely
> to turn onto the tracks because a map book will
> not instruct a person to turn onto the tracks.
> 'Coach' was still blaming the person/numpty using
> the gps, because their decision to rely on the gps
> was made by the numpty in question.

Your aurguments are always misguided. I am sure the GPS never said "turn onto the tracks" it more likely said "turn right ahead" and the person driving not paying attention to the surroundings and not using common sense turned right at the next whatever that went right.

If people would turn off the GPS voice relying instead on having to LOOK at the GPS map, I would bet that 90% of the problems wouldn't happen, because they would have to be more interactive.

So no, the fault does not lay with the GPS. It is solely on the driver.

Driving a vehicle (truck, bus, train, airplane, boat, submarine, etc) is a responsibility. Something not being taught.

Apparently the GPS told the driver to "turn right now", and he was at the tracks, so he turned. It would be an interesting software engineering exercise to figure out why it gave that command right there.
I relied heavily on a "Sat-Nav" (British term for GPS) when driving around Wales in the UK last fall. It was amazing some of the twisty cow tracks it sent me down. I figured out later it was set to find the shortest route, not the fastest one. It took us hours to get from Porthmadog to Caernarfon. We did the drive a again a few days later relying on a paper map and made the distance in under half the time.

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography