I like to play a game I call Dangerous Directions. The rules are as follows:
1. Actually be prepared. Have a real map, the right equipment and know how to use it.
2. Pick a remote, scenic destination.
3. Put it into Google Maps and try to get there.
You lose if:
1. You successfully get to your destination on a road passable by a normal passenger vehicle.
2. You don't get to your destination due to vehicle/equipment failure or being unprepared for the hazards encountered.
You win if:
1. Google's route required 4wd with bonus points for river crossings, rock crawling and other hazards.
2. Google's route is utterly impassable or otherwise impossible with bonus points for distance traveled in the wrong direction.
The places Google Maps will happily take you with nary a warning can be quite dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. I've encountered numerous people (some obviously lost, others oblivious to their actual situation) in places they frankly had no business being just because they were blindly following a GPS to something they saw on Instagram.
This happened to me while trying to go to a new Tesla supercharging outfit in Seiverville, TN.
Tesla gets parts of their routes from Google Maps, and this particular route was more than happy to send me down a road that looked all but abandoned and, from what I could tell, went straight through (into?) a huge ditch.
> State troopers who found Paxton’s body in his overturned and partially submerged truck had said there were no barriers or warning signs along the washed-out roadway
> The North Carolina State Patrol had said the bridge was not maintained by local or state officials, and the original developer’s company had dissolved. The lawsuit names several private property management companies that it claims are responsible for the bridge and the adjoining land.
⇒ I think it’s quite possible that the authorities never put up "Road Closed" barricades there. It wasn’t their bridge and, presumably, the last stretch of road leading to it wasn’t their road. Or do I think too low of the authorities in the USA?
I had the same reaction but I found another article with more info:
> It was dark and rainy out...
> Typically, barricades are in place to prevent drivers from crossing the bridge, North Carolina State Highway Patrol said. But the barricades had been removed after being vandalized and were missing at the time of Paxson’s wreck.
1. Actually be prepared. Have a real map, the right equipment and know how to use it.
2. Pick a remote, scenic destination.
3. Put it into Google Maps and try to get there.
You lose if:
1. You successfully get to your destination on a road passable by a normal passenger vehicle.
2. You don't get to your destination due to vehicle/equipment failure or being unprepared for the hazards encountered.
You win if:
1. Google's route required 4wd with bonus points for river crossings, rock crawling and other hazards.
2. Google's route is utterly impassable or otherwise impossible with bonus points for distance traveled in the wrong direction.
The places Google Maps will happily take you with nary a warning can be quite dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. I've encountered numerous people (some obviously lost, others oblivious to their actual situation) in places they frankly had no business being just because they were blindly following a GPS to something they saw on Instagram.