Lady turned on to the tracks in Mineola NY, on the LIRR main line. She was following her GPS and it told her to turn.
Fortunately she got out before the train hit the car.
We were in the restaurant in the story when it happened.
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Not so in some places. Brownsville PA and Michigan City Indiana come to mind 
I know of one diagonal road crossing by me that routinely has drivers making a left onto the ROW and not the road. Probably doesn't help that it's near a small nightclub.
Just wait for the self-driving cars!
At least with a human behind the wheel you'd think they'd notice but I guess were all becoming slaves to our "devices".
The live cam in Ashland, VA shows this now and then. The RR goes through the center of town.
GPS signal is a weak one. It can be compromised easily, it seems. A trucker in the New York area wanted to block the signal his bosses were receiving, so that he could go where he wanted, without them knowing. Whatever he did to his GPS wrecked havoc with everyone's system for a few miles around. A story I learned a couple of years ago.
Hope the lady has enough insurance to cover LIRR's expense.
Joe Hohmann posted:The live cam in Ashland, VA shows this now and then. The RR goes through the center of town.
Farmer_Bill posted:Joe Hohmann posted:The live cam in Ashland, VA shows this now and then. The RR goes through the center of town.
We've ridden the Autotrain many times through this town.
Well, how many people have hit the 11'8 bridge with drivers in box trucks following the GPS receiver.
Dan Padova posted:GPS signal is a weak one. It can be compromised easily, it seems. A trucker in the New York area wanted to block the signal his bosses were receiving, so that he could go where he wanted, without them knowing. Whatever he did to his GPS wrecked havoc with everyone's system for a few miles around. A story I learned a couple of years ago.
Sounds like a jammer.
Dominic Mazoch posted:Well, how many people have hit the 11'8 bridge with drivers in box trucks following the GPS receiver.
There's a 10' 6" RR trestle near my job. Gets hit once a week minimum. Most times its a box truck opened up like a can of sardines. The worst I saw was a brand new CAT Excavator with the entire cab ripped off and laying on the ground. The machine didn't have a scratch on it...until they hit the bridge of course.
People turn onto railroad tracks even when they don't have GPS. It seems to happen several times a year.
NH Joe
Speaking of the Ashland camera...I had it on my laptop when we went through Ashland a few weeks ago on the Silver Meteor at 9:15 pm. I took a video of the train we were riding on.
Cell phones (don't know about GPS navigation devices) only use GPS satellite signals for location services as a last resort. Instead, they augment using a combination of technologies, including distance and direction from cell towers and strength and direction of signal from wifi access points (which are mapped by services like Google cars/maps). If a cell phone has to resort to the GPS signal, it can take up to 10 minutes to find it's location. I would think most modern dedicated navigation devices do similar things.
10 minutes? We are in big trouble, for I thought PTC uses GPS receivers as part of its aystem?
"She was following her GPS and it told her to turn."
I love the saying, "you can't fix stupid". The first stupid thing was not being aware of her surroundings. You see it all the time, not only with cars but with pedestrians in NYC on their cell phones. Walking into other people AND traffic. The second stupid thing is the blame game. A good part of that lies on the legal system and settling cases because its less expensive than going to Court. Personal responsibility (Harry truman , "The Buck Stops Here") is as anachronistic as what we were taught in school about George Washington who supposedly said, "I cannot tell a lie". There are undoubtedly more stupid things here, but why bother.
Gerry
There are a number of locations in my area where software like Google Maps and Waze are a little off in pinpointing locations. It's been a while since I've used my Garmin, but as I recall, it had the same errors.
Cell phones (don't know about GPS navigation devices) only use GPS satellite signals for location services as a last resort.
The cell phone I am currently using allows the user to turn the GPS off and on. I have Google Maps and Waze. Both want the GPS turned on. Google Maps will run without GPS, but it is more accurate with it on.
