[countrymel]

I just heard this on the radio.

Victoria Wake says she and her partner were travelling from Adelaide to Mildura for a wedding two weeks ago when they got lost for five hours in Murray Sunset National Park.

Ms Wake says her car blew a tyre and eventually became bogged.

Now I'm no familiar with this route but I would be reasonably confident that driving from Adelaide to Mildura wouldn't involve 5 hours of dirt roads - especially ones that caused you to become bogged.

What happened to common sense?

At what point do you say "Hmmmm.... this doesn't look right? I think I will turn back and get back on the main road."

We have a similar issue in Tasmania where people attempt to cross through a dirt road at high altitude in the middle of winter because "Google maps say it is the most direct route"....

Y-e-a-h... the 'shortest' maybe but surely your brain would tell you that a dual lane sealed highway is going to be a quicker way to get from A to B even more so when there is SNOW around?

So:

Do you have implicit faith in your GPS?

Or do you still use maps and common sense?

[niggles]

Are you having issues with that dead end street of yours again, Countrymel?

[FloralArrangemen...]

Adelaide -Mildura has to be one of the easiest drives. We followed the giant green and white signage. GPS

[countrymel]

Oh dear..... I think you are right niggles!

I knew there was a reason this story gave me the tom tits!

[squeekums]

thats funny as!
I wouldnt trust a GPS. The one my friend has cant even find the roads close to Adelaide.

[Stellajoy]

GPS is amazing. Yes, there have been glitches with apple maps, but all in all any GPS is quite remarkable.

Better than using the stars and a compass.

I would bet the people making those mistakes and blaming their GPS would make the same mistake even with a fold out paper map.

[katniss]

Of course you still have to use common sense. Unfortunately there are many people in this world who lack such common sense.

[lsolaBella]

I read maps and out do GPS all the time.

Mine gets used so I can tell the kids where the next stop is when driving Melb-Sydney.

Other then that I think they are useless.

Was giving cab driver directions in big traffic and he was amazed at my route.... It was not an approved GPS route.

[Saecularis Angel...]

I read paper maps well but find GPS annoying and distracting to use.

My common sense.... who knows? When I first did work experience in year 10 I remember that was the area my "employer" scored me lowest on. I hope I've developed a bit since then.

[ZombieMum]

I guess people are so reliant on modern technology, that they've forgotten how to read large clear road signs that say 'Mildura'.