(jennymcb)
Trying to get out of a drunk driving rap? Just blame it on the GPS! Apparently one woman thought that excuse of blindly following her car’s navigation aid would hold up when cops found her insider her car, which she’d crashed in a golf course sand trap.
The woman was arrested on drunk driving charges on Monday afternoon. She reportedly told police “that her GPS had told her to turn left. She stated that this left brought her into a ‘cornfield’ and once she was in the ‘cornfield’ she kept driving, trying to get out of (the) ‘cornfield.’”
Once she was on the golf course, she must’ve really been in a hurry to get out of there, as cops say she hit speeds of 45 mph while cruising around on the course. People were swinging away on the course at the time but no one was injured, according to CBS Boston.
She reportedly failed a field sobriety test and admitted to drinking a half liter of vodka that morning. So really, is it fair to blame the GPS?
Woman Crashes Car Into Golf Course Sand Bunker, Blames GPS [CBS Boston]
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Driving at 45mph while drinking vodka on a golf course?
We call that hole 3.
It would be remiss if anyone did not post this video to accompany the article.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIakZtDmMgo
Great call! That’s the first thing that I thought of!
Came looking for this. Was not disappointed.
How far can you drive into a cornfield?
Half-way, because after that you’re driving out.
I don’t think she’s the only one drinking vodka today.
How do they know if it was up to 45mph?
…now with speeds up to 45mph, or more!
Maybe it was on her GPS….
)
“So really, is it fair to blame the GPS?”
I don’t know. How much did the GPS drink?
I admit GPS units can be really handy when traveling in strange places, but geez people – have some common sense!
I remember hearing a police call on my scanner a few years back. A woman from out of the area followed her GPS instructions off the local interstate, and ended up at the end of an old logging road, stuck. In the dark. Fortunately, she could use her cell to call 911, as cell service can be spotty here. One of the local landowners went out on a 4 wheeler to rescue her. They got her car out the next day. She was very lucky.
The point is – just don’t blindly follow the directions. They can be wrong.
Isn’t that how that family became trapped in feet of snow on some abandoned service road and the father tried to find help and died? If so – fuck GPS.
this is the guy you’re thinking of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim
Don’t blame the GPS, people still need to be competent enough to make correct decisions, no matter how convincing that sexy lady’s voice is.
Mine sounds more like Angela Landsbury, but actually that works for me.
I’m a lady person, so I changed mine to the man’s voice
Yeah, that was totally the GPS’ problem. Can’t expect someone know better than to ignore warning signs and drive down an unplowed, unpaved road covered with heavy snow.
After all, the GPS knows best and keeps up with all weather and ground conditions everywhere. Doesn’t it?
Nope, James Kim the techno-wonder decided to go that route after looking at a PAPER MAP. Guess those words we have on them like “seasonal road”, “unpaved road”, etc. don’t mean much to the city slickers.
common sense also dictates that you don’t drink a quart of vodka and then hop in your Buick.
Yeah, there have been times where Cindy (the voiceover lady for my GPS) insisted I had to go on really shady-looking roads. I always go past them and wait for Cindy to catch up and give me better directions.
My GPS is awesome 98% of the time. The other 2% it tries to make me drive through Alabama to get to Montana. Thing is, I’m in Arizona.
Sounds like the Alabama Tourism Board paid off the GPS manufacturers.
This is my hometown. There aren’t any cornfields bordering the golf course, or anywhere nearby where you could drive from one to another, for that matter:
Google Maps: Whitinsville Golf Club
A much more complete story is here, with better pictures:
Worcester Telegram
War-ces-tur?
Been told its pronounced like “wuss-ter”.
….or to a true local: Wuss-tah (no R’s in Mass aplahabet)
sure there are, one that I can think of is the one on the end of idea
No, more like “Wouce-ster”. The r in the first part is silent.
Or Wuss-ster (as in, “he’s such a wuss”). Always two syllables. Not “Wor-ces-ster”. And never “Wor-chest-ster”.
Just like the sauce- Worce-ster-shire with three syllables there.
I was just kidding with you. I live about 2 miles from the Mass border and have friends who live around those areas. When we drive by the signs for Worcester I always make fun of the pronunciation.
Sorry my dog-eared friend but the locals around these here parts call it: Woosta.
I went to school in Worcester. Never did figure out how almost everybody can pronounce Worcestershire Sauce with no problem, but remove the -shire and they’re lost. It always made for a good time calling customer service lines.
Read the story – they didn’t use GPS or Google Maps. They used an official Oregon State road map.
My mom once drove through a golf course. The sad thing is, she wasn’t drunk or following a faulty GPS. She just thought it would be a good shortcut.
http://youtu.be/C29Ci17oH7M
This one from Bridgestone: http://youtu.be/B6sx7CyaMbg
At least she got it partly right…driving on a fairway, and all.
The GPS voice might matter. Karen could recommend a wedge, but Anne might suggest a 7 iron.
She was sentenced to a two-stroke penalty, but was ultimately disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
drinking while using a GPS. Takes this to a whole new level.
This reminds of the episode of The Office where Michael drives into a lake because his GPS tells him to.
This past year some friends and I were in St. Croix and following a GPS, google maps and a tourism map we picked up. The road was on all 3 of the maps as a full road. We ended up driving our rental cars on a off-road trail and eventually turning around because we didn’t think it was safe to go any further. We should have known we were in trouble when the paved road was a single lane if you drove with the yellow line in the center of the car due to trees growing in, but we kept going until the paved part disappeared due to what looked like wash-outs. We parked and walked a few hundred feet and didn’t see paved road again and the road was steep and rocky, so we went back the way we came and found another way around. Look at rt. 78 – rt. 63 – Hams Bluff Rd. We made it to the place where the little road goes North on the Right side of the map. http://goo.gl/maps/EqYE
We got into some trouble like that in our Miata. We were tooling around some Virginia back roads via GPS and found our road to be bisected by a creek. Twice. Miatas do not ford well. We were thisclose to the paved road we were aiming for. The GPS, Google Maps, and the state map all show this as a viable road. It’s only when you use Google satellite view that you see the water. We finally got out of there and just retraced our route.
I live near the Appalachian Trail, and sometimes my GPS thinks it’s an acceptable route for my car from one point to another. Luckily I’m smarter than that.
If you ever find you have driven into a corn field, don’t keep on driving forward to get out of it. Back out and get back on the road!
Yeah this incident happened several miles from my house in Massachusetts. But the thing is, there are no cornfields any where near that golf course, she was just plain drunk. And hopefully since this is her 4th time, she loses her license even further and the police impounds her car too. Otherwise and I’m being serious by saying this, she’s going to kill somebody if they don’t get her off the road once and for all.
We occasionally sell farm animals from our home. A lot of customers insist they can find it – they’ll just use their GPS. Not to argue with a customer, I let them. Anyone coming from north of us is directed by one or the other (either Tom-Tom or Garmin, but not both of them) to take one particular road that would be a little sketchy to take my tractor down. When people show up 45 minutes late, and coming from the wrong direction (from the dirt road direction), I tell them, “I’ll give you directions to at least get part way back home, so you don’t have to do that again.” Sure, it might be an extra 5 miles, but it’ll save you 35 minutes.
No, it’s not fair to blame the GPS. The blame should go on the drunk driver.
Maybe she turned into the field to get away from a stalker. I’m all ears to hear more on her excuse, but I’d bet it would be pretty corny.
MY GPS told me to drive off a ferry when it was still sailing toward its destination.
Mapquest once told me to turn onto a pathway.
It literally said, “Turn right onto Pathway”
It was right by my house, so I know you’re not supposed to drive on it.
If you’re ever in Bishop, Calif., coming down the hill from Lake Sabrina with a TomTom GPS, don’t turn right when it tells you – it’s a long way down!
Here is a helpful article: http://www.gps.gov/support/user/mapfix/