Disagreeing with someone's GPS

[JeanFromBNA]

I kind of wish I could get the voice of the Allstate "Mayhem" guy on my Garmin.  Or at least him saying "Recalculating!"

LOL

OT:  Anybody remember the Doonesbury cartoons where they were recording celebrity voices for GPS?  James Earl Jones, Clint Eastwood, and I can't remember who else.

[menley]

Generally I prefer personal directions over a GPS, but I agree with a previous poster that said some people are just plain bad at giving directions. I have a friend who is notorious for getting into the middle of a story and forgetting altogether about the directions until she's like "Wait, we should've turned four streets ago… whoops." When she's in the car, I ignore her and use the GPS, always.

[Redneck Gravy]

My daughter's gps took us off the interstate, drove us in a complete square around a police station and then put us back on the interstate - we have NO IDEA why it did this? 

But we laughed out loud about it...

[Outdoor Girl]

I just can't get over the people who get lost using their GPS.  If the thing is directing you onto something that looks like a goat path, don't you think you should reconsider?  I've ignored my GPS several times.  It eventally stops saying 'Recalculating'.   

And here's a funny story from way before GPS available.  Some elderly friends of mine were travelling near my hometown.  The highway was under construction and there was a detour around a closed section.  That was inadequately marked.  My friends kept driving, on progressively smaller roads, over this very rickety bridge and finally emerged from the trees.  Onto the tee of the 17th hole of the local golf course!

The golfers ready to tee off were pretty shocked.  One of them came over and my friend rolled down her window.  'Please tell me I don't have to go back over that bridge!'  The golfer laughed and managed to direct her up the side of the golf course, back out to the road and on her way.  I'm sure she was talked about at that club for years.

[lowspark]

My daughter's gps took us off the interstate, drove us in a complete square around a police station and then put us back on the interstate - we have NO IDEA why it did this? 

But we laughed out loud about it...

This exact thing happened to me once, only on mapquest or google maps (I can't remember which) not with a GPS. I was mapping how to get somewhere from my house. It told me to go north and pass S. Streetname, then make a left onto N. Streetname, then head back south on the original street (so essentially a U-Turn) and then turn right onto S. Streetname.

Ummm... wouldn't it just be easier to turn left onto S. Streetname in the first place? I ignored that bit of direction but thought, what the heck? GPS & online maps are great but you have to be prepared to do some of your own thinking!

[kherbert05]

I use Waze and sometimes it gives me what seem to be illogical directions. Usually it is because of traffic back ups.

Example it tells me to get off the tollway at Memorial, take the fly bridge and use the feeder for several miles. I decided to give it a shot one night going home. It really did save me about 15 minutes of the normal time traveling the tollway would take that time of night. Now i have several skip the traffic side routes that I can take going home.

On the other hand it has a couple of routes that I won't take because -
1. Would require me to take an unprotected left across 7 lanes of rush hour traffic. I sit through the extra 3 light cycles.

2. Wants me to drive around my school taking 2 lefts instead of going straight and taking 1 right - also that route takes me by the Middle School, JH, and High school during dismissal.

In those cases I use local knowledge. If I had someone in my car that knew the recommended route was going to put me in theses situations - I would want them to speak up.



What cracks me up is it pronounces tollway as towelway but can say Kuykendal correctly.

[menley]

I use Waze and sometimes it gives me what seem to be illogical directions. Usually it is because of traffic back ups.

Example it tells me to get off the tollway at Memorial, take the fly bridge and use the feeder for several miles. I decided to give it a shot one night going home. It really did save me about 15 minutes of the normal time traveling the tollway would take that time of night. Now i have several skip the traffic side routes that I can take going home.

On the other hand it has a couple of routes that I won't take because -
1. Would require me to take an unprotected left across 7 lanes of rush hour traffic. I sit through the extra 3 light cycles.

2. Wants me to drive around my school taking 2 lefts instead of going straight and taking 1 right - also that route takes me by the Middle School, JH, and High school during dismissal.

In those cases I use local knowledge. If I had someone in my car that knew the recommended route was going to put me in theses situations - I would want them to speak up.



What cracks me up is it pronounces tollway as towelway but can say Kuykendal correctly.

Hah! Based on Memorial and Kuykendal, I bet you're a Houstonian

I have a funny GPS story too - I went to Croatia for a beach vacation with some friends, and we took a day trip into Bosnia (Mostar). On our way back, the GPS took us a different route than the way that we went in, winding up through the mountains. I thought, this is a little strange… but I wasn't driving, so I let it go. Sure enough, we get to the border and we're told that this route is a "locals only" route - for the two or three people who had their houses high up in the hills and needed access to both Croatia and Bosnia - and not for tourists who follow their GPS blindly into the hills. We had to turn around and retrace the steps, plus take the actual route across the border - all in all we spent 3x as much exiting Bosnia as we did entering.

[shadowfox79]

I just can't get over the people who get lost using their GPS.  If the thing is directing you onto something that looks like a goat path, don't you think you should reconsider?  I've ignored my GPS several times.  It eventally stops saying 'Recalculating'.   

I'm convinced my satnav has a setting buried somewhere which says "Is she driving alone in the middle of the night? Good, send her down the smallest, least lit country road you can find."

My husband refused to believe it had taken me down a weird route coming back from the next town over, until the next time we were coming back that way and I just let the satnav have its way. I have no idea why it thought the twisty-turny course it took me was a better route than the straight dual carriageway I would otherwise have been on.

[MommyPenguin]

My husband and I visited one of his friends once, years ago, when not many people had GPS (the friend had a car with a built-in GPS).  The friend was driving us back from his work to his house.  After a few minutes, he said, "Okay, I know where I'm going now," and turned off the GPS.  Then he got lost.  He realized it after a while, turned the GPS back on, and got back on the route.  Drove for a bit, then said, "Okay, NOW I know where I'm going," and turned it off again.  Then got lost again.  Then turned the GPS back on, got himself straightened out, and went to turn it off again.  My husband suggested that maybe he should leave it on, just for kicks.

This was a particularly unpleasant drive due to the friend's being one of those people who know there's a brake pedal and a gas pedal, and are pretty sure that you're supposed to be pressing one of them completely down at all times.  I was also in the backseat and in the early weeks of pregnancy.  So I was rather anxious to have the drive not prolonged.

[MrsJWine]

Instead of "I usually turn here" I think you should have said, "The GPS is sending us on a route that will take a lot longer. Do you mind if I navigate instead?"

The first is a general observation. The second is a direct request.

I agree with this. The way you were trying to give her directions would have really gotten under my skin, actually. Not gonna lie, I would be inclined to go with the GPS out of sheer obstinacy. No, that's not a good reaction, but most people respond a lot better to direct requests than they do sideways comments.

[JoW]

Sometimes its not just the route, sometimes GPS gets the location wrong. 

I once had stranger appear at my door.  His GPS brought him here.  The address he was looking for was 2 doors south.  In learning that I also learned that he was a repo man.  He was looking for my neighbor so he could repossess his car. 

[MrsJWine]

This thread has me thinking of that episode of The Office where Michael drives into a lake because the GPS told him to.

[LifeOnPluto]

I'd find this galling too, and a little insulting (ie that my friend didn't trust my knowledge, and my ability to give clear directions).

Unfortunately however, if your friend was driving, and she said she wanted to use the GPS rather than have you navigate, I don't think there's much else you can do, from an etiquette perspective.

[Lynnv]

Instead of "I usually turn here" I think you should have said, "The GPS is sending us on a route that will take a lot longer. Do you mind if I navigate instead?"

The first is a general observation. The second is a direct request.

I agree with this. The way you were trying to give her directions would have really gotten under my skin, actually. Not gonna lie, I would be inclined to go with the GPS out of sheer obstinacy. No, that's not a good reaction, but most people respond a lot better to direct requests than they do sideways comments.

Me three.  I would not have found it annoying.  But the way you said you worded it sounds like commentary and discussion (especially since you already talked about how a GPS won't always use the same route a person would pick) more than routing suggestions.  Ask me directly and I will probably be fine with using your directions.

[jaxsue]

My GPS decided to take me, instead of on my nice easy highway route, through mile after mile of downtown Detroit.

I think it's trying to kill me. 

The last time I drove through MI my GPS did the same thing. I feel your pain!