Sure, stories about drivers getting into trouble because they blindly obey their GPS navigation stories are fun, but, as I mentioned in a previous entry, you can’t help but wonder about the bigger picture — i.e., why is this happening? In today’s New York Times, an article that tries to address that question: it looks at the phenomenon of truck drivers being led by their GPS units through narrow-streeted villages in the UK. Again, why is this happening? One piece of the puzzle:

As for trucks getting lost, much of the problem is caused by truck drivers from other countries — more than 14,000 a day — who come from abroad with GPS devices but without maps or an ability to read English road signs, said Geoff Dossetter, a spokesman for the Freight Transport Association, which represents road haulers.

“Foreign drivers very much depend on sat nav systems when they’re coming to a different country, and they are following them rather more blindly than they ought to,” Mr. Dossetter said.

Via All Points Blog.