Emily Yoffe on Her GPS: ‘A Cross Between Lady Macbeth and HAL 9000’

Everyone is pointing to the last paragraph of Emily Yoffe’s piece in The Washington Post about the perils of using a GPS, but there’s plenty of cringeworthy detail before that about the impact of being led astray by your dashboard GPS — especially when that impact is felt by many users on one spot:

We inaugurated our Magellan GPS on a family trip to Ikea. We were a little wary when the voice told us to take a left into a residential area — but we rationalized that this must be some fabulous shortcut known only to those with a friend attached to the dashboard by suction cup. After 10 minutes of twists and turns deeper into the neighborhood, we ended up on a street where our path was blocked by a couch (not from Ikea) with a sign propped on it announcing, “You Can’t Drive Through Here!” We realized the residents, sick of their quiet streets being turned into a NASCAR track by bargain furniture shoppers misled by GPS, had done their own public works modification.

Via Caitlin and MAPS-L.

Posted on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 8:42 AM
Categories: Driving Directions

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