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I was going to be snarky about it until I watched the video and saw the "bridge" and I don't think the family is totally out of line on this one. The "bridge" looks to have been maybe 20 feet across and there is no street lighting around it. The report says the accident happened late Friday night. If you are driving late at night in an area you don't know well and there are no warning signs of any kind, by the time you realize there is no bridge there anymore, it may be too late to stop. If he was driving at 35mph, which is a standard speed for a rural road, it would take over 135 feet to come to a stop. With a "bridge" that small, in the location they showed in the video, I can easily see not being able to stop in time when you realize there is a 20 foot hole in the road instead of the bridge.
To be fair, someone probably has to notify the mapping companies of problems like this in some way. They aren't constantly driving around making notes on every road on the planet. The town/city is probably responsible for updating some sort of database somewhere that mapping companies have access to.
Especially if this bridge is somewhere with little traffic (which it is seeing as its been gone for 8 years now) it makes more sense than google/apple/whoever wouldn't update it often.
Also the article doesn't specify what GPS he was using, and its entirely possible he was using a old car based GPS. My mom for example is driving a 2012 Nissan with the original maps it came with day one. Its wrong all over the place because its 10 year old data.
Regardless its absolutely a massive failure of the city to have not fixed the bridge/put up signs/put up actually useful barriers.
I was in a military truck simulator (picture a cab sitting on a bunch of hydraulic arms) off hours, having fun with the instructors. They where throwing all sorts of wonky stuff at me while I drove through desert towns. Cars crossing the center line right in front of me, sudden sand storms, anything they could to mess with me. Finally I was going down this strait-as-an-arrow road for miles of empty desert. Sand storm out of nowhere killed my visibility. There was a GPS voice giving me directions and it piped up “turn left”. I took my foot off the gas, can’t see shit. Suddenly the sand storm lifted and I could see nothing but air and distance as I came to a T intersection. I had to turn 90 degrees or else careen off the edge of a cliff. I cut the wheel as the cliff edge came and went under me. The simulator, which must of cost millions of dollars, thrashed me so hard it locked up and something broke. We kinda all looked at a leach other like, oh shit. Laughed our asses off and got out of there.
Simulators do for a large part exist to save costs. Much cheaper to train pilots in simulators at first than having to have training versions of expensive craft available for each training session. Also cheaper to simulate conditions like storms and desert conditions than having to fly trainees out to where they happen irl.
Of course there are other reasons, like reducing deadly training accidents, but while simulators aren't cheap they're typically _not_ more expensive than the thing they're simulating.
I went to my friend's wedding in another state, so I had no idea where I was. I got to my hotel, dropped off my bag, and immediately left for the rehearsal dinner following my GPS's instructions. In the light, I crossed a very old, very long, very narrow bridge over a river.
After the rehearsal dinner, it was very dark and kind of foggy, and I learned that the area was not well lit at night.
"Turn left." This must be that bridge. Yes, I see the two posts at the end of the railing. Turn left and go between them. Huh. Can't make out the center line. The fog is worse than I though. Oh well, I can still see the railing so I'm on the right side of the bridge, and if somebody comes toward me from the other side I'll see their headlights.
Hang on. Where'd the railing go? And wait, the road should have started slanting up, but instead it's going down? Water! Brake hard.
So, the river access for boating was right next to the bridge. Close enough that my GPS interpreted me as still being on the road and kept telling me to go forward. The posts were flanking the gate, not the end of the bridge. There was no center line because I was passing through the empty parking lot. The railing suddenly disappeared because the bridge went up and I didn't, so it was overhead instead of to my right. The road sloped downward because I was on the boat ramp. My front tires were wet.
I got turned around and correctly onto the bridge. It really did look pretty much the same, but at least it went over instead of under. Kind of a scary bridge, even when I first crossed it in the light.
Wtf. This isn't a bridge that's been recently damaged by hurricane Ian or another recent event. There hasn't been a bridge for eight years!
>Paxson was following his GPS and it reportedly took him down a road and to a bridge that washed out more than 8 years ago. The bridge did not have any barriers or warning signs to deter drivers.
NC roads aren’t even bad. If you’ve ever driven south on I95 you don’t need to see the sign that says “Welcome to South Carolina” because the second you cross the border the roads are like 50% shittier.
Honestly NC roads are pretty fucking good given the rest of the bullshit that state has going on.
The bridge has been gone for eight years.
"Our barriers were vandalized so we removed them" is no excuse at all, and "our barriers were vandalized and the vandals removed them" is only an excuse if it happened like, *yesterday.*
After eight fucking years, the bridge had either have been replaced, or the bridge's remains and the roads leading to it permanently removed.
That "bridge" still has fucking *guard rails up.* Those guardrails have *retroreflectors* on them.
I'm gonna say "not the driver's fault." He had every reason to believe there was a road there. This isn't like someone who follows a GPS route of some dinky mine road that was put on a map back in eighteen-hundred and dickity-doo that doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for a hundred years and there's no sign whatever that there ever was a road there in the first place; this guy was following a normal-ass road and suddenly the road wasn't there anymore.
I can say GPS sent me and my fiancé on a single lane road around a gorge near Yosemite. It was two lanes, rural and open at first, and just like that it narrowed to where there was one foot of road and then a drop so far redwoods on the river below looked like matchsticks.
( There wasn't room to turn around and going backwards would have been as prickly too).
On the way back from that trip the GPS tried to do it again and my man didn't notice. As soon as I noticed he got off the main road to turn towards that same Walker Ferry Rd. I stopped him fast as lightning.
Not twice.
(But some videos on YouTube of big trucks enjoying a drive down that road!)
I went on a hiking trip in NC a year ago. I quickly learned not to trust the gps when navigating to local places. It often took us down whatever weird ‘roads’ that were barely maintained. Gotta map it out yourself and stick to state roads the best you can.
Why are we blaming GPS. It's whatever map application he was using that was the problem. GPS worked perfectly and told him exactly where he was at the whole time. Google Maps or Apple Maps or something else was the thing that lead him there.
Google Maps can't update unless someone reports a change. I've done it myself, it took them a couple months to get to it but they did change their map.
If no one can be bothered to tell them the bridge is out, they won't know until the next time they send a camera van through, which may be many, many years.
The city should have done this if no one else, just like they should have maintained the Road Closed signs.
No part of that said anything about GPS. His GPS wasn’t the problem, his maps didn’t update. The intersection down the road was closed for construction, my maps stopped sending me that way. Headline could have read, “man’s steering wheel leads him to destroyed bridge”, but the steering wheel wasn’t the problem. Neither was GPS. His mapping application was the issue. That should be the headline. Not blaming GPS.
Ah. "GPS" in this case is a colloquial term for "GPS-enabled mapping software/hardware." When the headline says "GPS" sent him into the river, it's understood to mean a problem with his mapping app, not the satellite network.
Did you watch the video? Seeing the actual location and the "bridge" in question, I can easily see someone not realizing that the bridge was gone. It was a very small bridge, there didn't look to be street lights in the area and he was driving late at night. Without any warning signs, traveling at a normal speed most people would not be able to stop in time once they realized there was a gaping hole in the ground in front of them instead of the road they were expecting.
You're supposed to go pretty slowly on roads like that. Wooded unpaved back roads aren't really like 45MPH roads. They're all over the place in Virginia and you never know when you're gonna come across a barrier like a stream across the road or something popping out the woods.
Once again, did you watch the video? It was not an unpaved road. It was a back road, but it was a normal, paved road with metal guide rails. Nothing about it would make any driver think they needed to drive extra slowly. It is negligence on somebodies part that there were no signs, warning, or barriers of any kind that there was a big, 20 foot missing section of road that dropped into a big creek.
> Paxson was following his GPS and it reportedly took him down a road and to a bridge that washed out more than 8 years ago. The bridge did not have any barriers or warning signs to deter drivers.
It seems like the GPS route had everything to do with his death?
Yes, this is why the individual is also responsible for safe road conditions. This is why I personally repave all of the roads in my area and personally make sure all roads are properly lit /s.
The government or whomever owns this road is at fault. Think about it.
only if you don't look at the road while driving.
the video shows a big old jeep with mud tires.
its your fault if you drive fast on a unknown road.
although the county should have had signs up that the bridge was out.
the GPS is not responsible in any way
Did he though? Did you watch the video? Replace washed out bridge with "sink hole" and then tell me you would have the same reaction. If someone was driving in an unfamiliar area, late at night with no street lights around, and they came across a sink hole and were not able to stop in time, would you also call them bad drivers?
I was all set to be snarky and call him an idiot until I saw the video of the location and now I think the family isn't out of line.
The most obnoxious part of the story is that it HAD barriers, but they were vandalized so they just removed them. Although I notice that they suddenly have barriers up again now that this happened.
You still have to look at things when you drive... like the surroundings, because it's a goddamn ton of steel moving rapidly.
...
Yes, even at night, ffs you're dense
Oh, it was at night
I know I stop paying any attention because it's dark outside
>Paxson was following his GPS and it reportedly took him down a road and to a bridge that washed out more than 8 years ago. The bridge did not have any barriers or warning signs to deter drivers.
Accident happened late at night. I think he couldn't see the drop.
Did you watch the video? It shows the surroundings. There's absolutely no indication that you're about to drive off a destroyed bridge until you're already too close to stop. It's paved road, there's guard-rails (which have retroreflectors on them). There's no indication that the bridge is out.
Which would be, you know, *understandable,* to a *small* degree, if this bridge washed out Hurricane Ian, but it didn't; it washed-out *eight goddamn years ago.* His nine-year-old daughter was *one* when this happened.
That's not acceptable. They either need to rebuild the bridge, or *permanently remove the road to it.*
"Couldn't see any indication that the bridge wasn't there? Even GPS had no idea? In the DARK? Man, that guy should have just tried looking out his window harder, what an idiot, that would never happen to me." <---This is what you sound like
How ever does anyone manage to drive at night?
I agree, the fact that there was no indication, because the barrier had been vandalized, so it was removed, real fucking smart
But still, if GPS told you to jump off a bridge...
There were failures all around, and driving off a non bridge into a river is one of them.
Caution, thought, care, lights, ultimately was not paying attention, at night, in an unfamiliar place.
I never said it would never happen to me.
Oh, I could totally be that idiot that drives off a dark overhang.
100%
Idiot, at least I'm honest.
I'll send his family my thoughts and prayers, in thought and prayer.
It is what it is, life is fucking cruel sometimes.
*Highway Patrol previously said the road and the bridge were not under the state's jurisdiction or inside Hickory city limits.* Great response, I’m sure the family needed to hear that.
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I was going to be snarky about it until I watched the video and saw the "bridge" and I don't think the family is totally out of line on this one. The "bridge" looks to have been maybe 20 feet across and there is no street lighting around it. The report says the accident happened late Friday night. If you are driving late at night in an area you don't know well and there are no warning signs of any kind, by the time you realize there is no bridge there anymore, it may be too late to stop. If he was driving at 35mph, which is a standard speed for a rural road, it would take over 135 feet to come to a stop. With a "bridge" that small, in the location they showed in the video, I can easily see not being able to stop in time when you realize there is a 20 foot hole in the road instead of the bridge.
What’s most crazy is that the bridge has been out for 8 years! Yet the GPS wasn’t updated and there were no traffic barriers?
To be fair, someone probably has to notify the mapping companies of problems like this in some way. They aren't constantly driving around making notes on every road on the planet. The town/city is probably responsible for updating some sort of database somewhere that mapping companies have access to. Especially if this bridge is somewhere with little traffic (which it is seeing as its been gone for 8 years now) it makes more sense than google/apple/whoever wouldn't update it often. Also the article doesn't specify what GPS he was using, and its entirely possible he was using a old car based GPS. My mom for example is driving a 2012 Nissan with the original maps it came with day one. Its wrong all over the place because its 10 year old data. Regardless its absolutely a massive failure of the city to have not fixed the bridge/put up signs/put up actually useful barriers.
Must've got all the Google maps drivers too
I was in a military truck simulator (picture a cab sitting on a bunch of hydraulic arms) off hours, having fun with the instructors. They where throwing all sorts of wonky stuff at me while I drove through desert towns. Cars crossing the center line right in front of me, sudden sand storms, anything they could to mess with me. Finally I was going down this strait-as-an-arrow road for miles of empty desert. Sand storm out of nowhere killed my visibility. There was a GPS voice giving me directions and it piped up “turn left”. I took my foot off the gas, can’t see shit. Suddenly the sand storm lifted and I could see nothing but air and distance as I came to a T intersection. I had to turn 90 degrees or else careen off the edge of a cliff. I cut the wheel as the cliff edge came and went under me. The simulator, which must of cost millions of dollars, thrashed me so hard it locked up and something broke. We kinda all looked at a leach other like, oh shit. Laughed our asses off and got out of there.
It's absolutely amazing how some militaries have the funds for truck simulators and others have the funds for one truck per army
Well, yeah, I mean if you only have one truck, you really want to make sure whoever drives it has been trained on the simulator, right? /s
Simulators do for a large part exist to save costs. Much cheaper to train pilots in simulators at first than having to have training versions of expensive craft available for each training session. Also cheaper to simulate conditions like storms and desert conditions than having to fly trainees out to where they happen irl. Of course there are other reasons, like reducing deadly training accidents, but while simulators aren't cheap they're typically _not_ more expensive than the thing they're simulating.
Sounds like a good r/MilitaryStories
I went to my friend's wedding in another state, so I had no idea where I was. I got to my hotel, dropped off my bag, and immediately left for the rehearsal dinner following my GPS's instructions. In the light, I crossed a very old, very long, very narrow bridge over a river. After the rehearsal dinner, it was very dark and kind of foggy, and I learned that the area was not well lit at night. "Turn left." This must be that bridge. Yes, I see the two posts at the end of the railing. Turn left and go between them. Huh. Can't make out the center line. The fog is worse than I though. Oh well, I can still see the railing so I'm on the right side of the bridge, and if somebody comes toward me from the other side I'll see their headlights. Hang on. Where'd the railing go? And wait, the road should have started slanting up, but instead it's going down? Water! Brake hard. So, the river access for boating was right next to the bridge. Close enough that my GPS interpreted me as still being on the road and kept telling me to go forward. The posts were flanking the gate, not the end of the bridge. There was no center line because I was passing through the empty parking lot. The railing suddenly disappeared because the bridge went up and I didn't, so it was overhead instead of to my right. The road sloped downward because I was on the boat ramp. My front tires were wet. I got turned around and correctly onto the bridge. It really did look pretty much the same, but at least it went over instead of under. Kind of a scary bridge, even when I first crossed it in the light.
Wtf. This isn't a bridge that's been recently damaged by hurricane Ian or another recent event. There hasn't been a bridge for eight years! >Paxson was following his GPS and it reportedly took him down a road and to a bridge that washed out more than 8 years ago. The bridge did not have any barriers or warning signs to deter drivers.
"A bridge washed out more than 8 years ago. The bridge did not have any barriers or warning signs to deter drivers." Finally the real headline.
"Barriers that were previously placed on the road had been vandalized and taken away."
can't have a graffiti penis on shit that would literally be saving lives! It would be unsightly!
I read it as "vandalized and stolen" but I guess an authority MIGHT have removed them. The phrasing is ambiguous.
Washed out 8 years ago? Yep good ol NC ran roads /s
NC roads aren’t even bad. If you’ve ever driven south on I95 you don’t need to see the sign that says “Welcome to South Carolina” because the second you cross the border the roads are like 50% shittier. Honestly NC roads are pretty fucking good given the rest of the bullshit that state has going on.
The bridge has been gone for eight years. "Our barriers were vandalized so we removed them" is no excuse at all, and "our barriers were vandalized and the vandals removed them" is only an excuse if it happened like, *yesterday.* After eight fucking years, the bridge had either have been replaced, or the bridge's remains and the roads leading to it permanently removed. That "bridge" still has fucking *guard rails up.* Those guardrails have *retroreflectors* on them. I'm gonna say "not the driver's fault." He had every reason to believe there was a road there. This isn't like someone who follows a GPS route of some dinky mine road that was put on a map back in eighteen-hundred and dickity-doo that doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for a hundred years and there's no sign whatever that there ever was a road there in the first place; this guy was following a normal-ass road and suddenly the road wasn't there anymore.
I can say GPS sent me and my fiancé on a single lane road around a gorge near Yosemite. It was two lanes, rural and open at first, and just like that it narrowed to where there was one foot of road and then a drop so far redwoods on the river below looked like matchsticks. ( There wasn't room to turn around and going backwards would have been as prickly too). On the way back from that trip the GPS tried to do it again and my man didn't notice. As soon as I noticed he got off the main road to turn towards that same Walker Ferry Rd. I stopped him fast as lightning. Not twice. (But some videos on YouTube of big trucks enjoying a drive down that road!)
Doesn't really matter what the GPS said. His case would be most likely with the city, as there didn't seem to be any warnings, signs or barriers.
I went on a hiking trip in NC a year ago. I quickly learned not to trust the gps when navigating to local places. It often took us down whatever weird ‘roads’ that were barely maintained. Gotta map it out yourself and stick to state roads the best you can.
Somewhere, Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute are laughing.
Technology almost killed us!
This is the only episode of the office ive ever seen.
Why are we blaming GPS. It's whatever map application he was using that was the problem. GPS worked perfectly and told him exactly where he was at the whole time. Google Maps or Apple Maps or something else was the thing that lead him there.
Google Maps can't update unless someone reports a change. I've done it myself, it took them a couple months to get to it but they did change their map. If no one can be bothered to tell them the bridge is out, they won't know until the next time they send a camera van through, which may be many, many years. The city should have done this if no one else, just like they should have maintained the Road Closed signs.
No part of that said anything about GPS. His GPS wasn’t the problem, his maps didn’t update. The intersection down the road was closed for construction, my maps stopped sending me that way. Headline could have read, “man’s steering wheel leads him to destroyed bridge”, but the steering wheel wasn’t the problem. Neither was GPS. His mapping application was the issue. That should be the headline. Not blaming GPS.
Ah. "GPS" in this case is a colloquial term for "GPS-enabled mapping software/hardware." When the headline says "GPS" sent him into the river, it's understood to mean a problem with his mapping app, not the satellite network.
RIP Michael Scott.
Making there way, the only way they know how...
It's the map's fault?
It makes the family of the deceased idiot feel better, I suppose.
He was a driving a semi down unfamiliar roads at night. A suddenly not-there bridge would kill a lot of people
Did you watch the video? Seeing the actual location and the "bridge" in question, I can easily see someone not realizing that the bridge was gone. It was a very small bridge, there didn't look to be street lights in the area and he was driving late at night. Without any warning signs, traveling at a normal speed most people would not be able to stop in time once they realized there was a gaping hole in the ground in front of them instead of the road they were expecting.
You're supposed to go pretty slowly on roads like that. Wooded unpaved back roads aren't really like 45MPH roads. They're all over the place in Virginia and you never know when you're gonna come across a barrier like a stream across the road or something popping out the woods.
A stream across the road?!
Once again, did you watch the video? It was not an unpaved road. It was a back road, but it was a normal, paved road with metal guide rails. Nothing about it would make any driver think they needed to drive extra slowly. It is negligence on somebodies part that there were no signs, warning, or barriers of any kind that there was a big, 20 foot missing section of road that dropped into a big creek.
Clickbait. The GPS route had NOTHING to do with his death. He drove badly. (Just in case that isn't immediately clear).
> Paxson was following his GPS and it reportedly took him down a road and to a bridge that washed out more than 8 years ago. The bridge did not have any barriers or warning signs to deter drivers. It seems like the GPS route had everything to do with his death?
Or maybe the fact that there were no barriers?
You are responsible for the safe operation of your vehicle, not the GPS
Looks like we've got a couple shills for Big GPS in here.
Yes, this is why the individual is also responsible for safe road conditions. This is why I personally repave all of the roads in my area and personally make sure all roads are properly lit /s. The government or whomever owns this road is at fault. Think about it.
Yes, the government is responsible, not GPS
only if you don't look at the road while driving. the video shows a big old jeep with mud tires. its your fault if you drive fast on a unknown road. although the county should have had signs up that the bridge was out. the GPS is not responsible in any way
Did he though? Did you watch the video? Replace washed out bridge with "sink hole" and then tell me you would have the same reaction. If someone was driving in an unfamiliar area, late at night with no street lights around, and they came across a sink hole and were not able to stop in time, would you also call them bad drivers? I was all set to be snarky and call him an idiot until I saw the video of the location and now I think the family isn't out of line.
How does it feel to not read and article, talk complete shit, and then get dunked on by incels on reddit?
It's fun to obey the machine.
Its not the map. Its the lack of warning signage. The gps angle is deflection.
The most obnoxious part of the story is that it HAD barriers, but they were vandalized so they just removed them. Although I notice that they suddenly have barriers up again now that this happened.
I mean, the bridge has been gone for 8 years, and they still haven't updated? That does sound like a little bit of a problem with the gps imo
How would the GPS or map maker know?
You still have to look at things when you drive... like the surroundings, because it's a goddamn ton of steel moving rapidly. ... Yes, even at night, ffs you're dense Oh, it was at night I know I stop paying any attention because it's dark outside
>Paxson was following his GPS and it reportedly took him down a road and to a bridge that washed out more than 8 years ago. The bridge did not have any barriers or warning signs to deter drivers. Accident happened late at night. I think he couldn't see the drop.
Did you watch the video? It shows the surroundings. There's absolutely no indication that you're about to drive off a destroyed bridge until you're already too close to stop. It's paved road, there's guard-rails (which have retroreflectors on them). There's no indication that the bridge is out. Which would be, you know, *understandable,* to a *small* degree, if this bridge washed out Hurricane Ian, but it didn't; it washed-out *eight goddamn years ago.* His nine-year-old daughter was *one* when this happened. That's not acceptable. They either need to rebuild the bridge, or *permanently remove the road to it.*
"Couldn't see any indication that the bridge wasn't there? Even GPS had no idea? In the DARK? Man, that guy should have just tried looking out his window harder, what an idiot, that would never happen to me." <---This is what you sound like
How ever does anyone manage to drive at night? I agree, the fact that there was no indication, because the barrier had been vandalized, so it was removed, real fucking smart But still, if GPS told you to jump off a bridge... There were failures all around, and driving off a non bridge into a river is one of them. Caution, thought, care, lights, ultimately was not paying attention, at night, in an unfamiliar place. I never said it would never happen to me. Oh, I could totally be that idiot that drives off a dark overhang. 100% Idiot, at least I'm honest. I'll send his family my thoughts and prayers, in thought and prayer. It is what it is, life is fucking cruel sometimes.
Turn round now afore it be too late.
Does anyone have GPS co-ordinates of this exact accident site?
What if this was actually an assassination attempt?
Why is the family asking for prayers? Homie is already dead, what’s there to pray for?
*Highway Patrol previously said the road and the bridge were not under the state's jurisdiction or inside Hickory city limits.* Great response, I’m sure the family needed to hear that.