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I still remember vividly the death of James Kim, the CNET reporter who died because GPS lead him and his family onto a small mountain road that shouldn't have b

I still remember vividly the death of James Kim, the CNET reporter who died because GPS lead him and his family onto a small mountain road that shouldn't have been opened in the first place. I didn't know him personally, but he was a close friend of a friend, and as the events were unfolding, daily I could see the worry and pain in my friend's face, until he was found dead (but his family was miraculously found alive). This happened about 10 years ago in the mountains in Oregon, notoriously treacherous during the winter. Surprisingly, my neighbor revently described to me how she almost died in the same area by following GPS, just last winter, almost 9 years later. They blindly went up a mountain road in the snow as they were trying to drive to Portland from the Bay Area, and they went to the point where they could barely turn their car around. Had they attempted to stop later, they would have gotten stuck and it would have turned into a similar story. Unfortunately, GPS needs a setting labelled "follow the safest, biggest roads".

markbnj 10y ago
>> the CNET reporter who died because GPS lead him and his family onto a small mountain road that shouldn't have been opened in the first place. I feel for James Kim, but why is that a reason for the road not to have been open? I make a hobby of exploring back roads. I sometimes use a GPS, but almost always for locating myself and getting a view of my surroundings, rarely for directions. I don't like to see bad things happen to people, but I'm sincerely puzzled when the reaction is to try and prevent them happening through prohibitions. When there are no roads left to close people will still get themselves into trouble by not observing enough, not thinking enough, or putting their faith in untrustworthy sources.
- lmm 10y ago
  > When there are no roads left to close people will still get themselves into trouble by not observing enough, not thinking enough, or putting their faith in untrustworthy sources. Perfect is the enemy of good. Sure, closing dangerous roads won't prevent all deaths, but if it has a good lives saved:cost ratio then it's worth doing.
- pfarnsworth 10y ago
  They closed the road during the winter because it was known to be dangerous. Someone came and cut the chains and opened it back up which is why they were able to take that road
ghaff 10y ago
My recollection (and a quick review of Wikipedia) of the James Kim case was that GPS wasn't involved; it was a matter of following a seasonal road shown on a highway map. The problem isn't so much GPS--although I imagine doing what a GPS "tells you to" can make the problem more severe. It's that in large areas of the Western US in particular there are a wide range of road conditions once you get off major paved roads. ADD: As for closing off roads, there are a huge number of minor roads in the West that are more or less drivable depending upon weather, vehicle type, driver skill, and other factors. If you drive off paved roads in those areas, it's important to be careful and often to obtain more info than what's on the map.
djrogers 10y ago
>I still remember vividly the death of James Kim, the CNET reporter who died because GPS lead him and his family onto a small mountain road Unfortunately you are vividly remembering some of the early speculation, and not what actually happened. James Kim died following a paper map - not a GPS or an online map, both of which were postulated but not true. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim

markbnj 10y ago

>> the CNET reporter who died because GPS lead him and his family onto a small mountain road that shouldn't have been opened in the first place. I feel for James Kim, but why is that a reason for the road not to have been open? I make a hobby of exploring back roads. I sometimes use a GPS, but almost always for locating myself and getting a view of my surroundings, rarely for directions. I don't like to see bad things happen to people, but I'm sincerely puzzled when the reaction is to try and prevent them happening through prohibitions. When there are no roads left to close people will still get themselves into trouble by not observing enough, not thinking enough, or putting their faith in untrustworthy sources.

lmm 10y ago
> When there are no roads left to close people will still get themselves into trouble by not observing enough, not thinking enough, or putting their faith in untrustworthy sources. Perfect is the enemy of good. Sure, closing dangerous roads won't prevent all deaths, but if it has a good lives saved:cost ratio then it's worth doing.
pfarnsworth 10y ago
They closed the road during the winter because it was known to be dangerous. Someone came and cut the chains and opened it back up which is why they were able to take that road

ghaff 10y ago

My recollection (and a quick review of Wikipedia) of the James Kim case was that GPS wasn't involved; it was a matter of following a seasonal road shown on a highway map. The problem isn't so much GPS--although I imagine doing what a GPS "tells you to" can make the problem more severe. It's that in large areas of the Western US in particular there are a wide range of road conditions once you get off major paved roads. ADD: As for closing off roads, there are a huge number of minor roads in the West that are more or less drivable depending upon weather, vehicle type, driver skill, and other factors. If you drive off paved roads in those areas, it's important to be careful and often to obtain more info than what's on the map.

djrogers 10y ago

>I still remember vividly the death of James Kim, the CNET reporter who died because GPS lead him and his family onto a small mountain road Unfortunately you are vividly remembering some of the early speculation, and not what actually happened. James Kim died following a paper map - not a GPS or an online map, both of which were postulated but not true. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim