c space odyssey

[marika]

I had a friend who said that they used to live on a county road and at
least once every other
year for all the years they lived there (30+) trucks who exceeded the posted
height on the warning sign, would have their trailers peeled back like the
tops on a sardine can . . . just because they didn't see it, or didn't
believe it - and that was long before GPSs were being marketed to the
public.

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> Driver puts faith in GPS, shears off top of charter bus on bridge
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> As of today, we're taking bets to see how long it will take before
> people realize that "GPS" does not stand for "Auto Pilot."
The
> latest "But the GPS told me to..." story is brought to you by
a
> charter bus driver in Seattle. Piloting a coach through the
> Washington Arboretum -- as the GPS instructed him -- the driver
> ignored, or didn't see, or didn't believe (take your pick) the
> flashing lights and sign warning him that his 11-foot-high bus was
> too tall for the looming 9-foot concrete overpass.
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> You can see how the story ends. The overpass ended up with some
> superficial damage, the coach got a removable top, and the girls
> softball team inside received some minor injuries. Luckily, the
> 60-inch sewage pipe inside the overpass wasn't ruptured. The driver
> was ticketed for $154. And in response to the charter company
> executive who remarked, "We just thought it would be a safe route
> because, why else would they have a selection for a bus?", a Garmin
> spokesman responded "Stoplights aren't in our databases, either,
but
> you're still expected to stop for stoplights."
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> <http://club.live.com/word_slugger.aspx?icid=word_slugger_wlhm_admod_april0
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