[warrioraks]

Google maps is a free software for navigation. If someone chooses to use it blindly, they are as much to blame as the maps.
In this specific case, a large part of the blame lies with PWD/government authorities. This is practically equivalent or even more dangerous than unmanned railway crossings that we used to have all around. Hard to understand why can’t they block the road for vehicles if the bridge is non-functional for nearly one third of an year. This is a freak incident which could have been avoided. I hope they are able to prevent such things in the future.

[anshu1101]

These days Google maps has become quite unreliable as it tends to route you through very narrow lanes or unpaved roads even if there are proper paved roads available as an alternative just to save a couple of minutes. I myself have been a victim of this. Always advisable to use your judgement and check with locals (the old fashioned way).

On my recent trip to Amarkantak and Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh, GMaps led me to cross a stream between Padmapur in Odisha and Saraipali in Chhattisgarh, while there was proper, albeit longer route available via Sohela. I stopped to double check with locals, who said this is the shortcut. But anyway, since the water level in the stream was very low, I decided to go ahead given I had already driven quite a bit of distance to get there, and turning around meant I'd lose about an hour.

However, even after crossing the stream I had to off-road in my Vento for a good 10 kms before I hit the state highway again.

[fhdowntheline]

There could be lots of factors, for example :
1) whether the occupants were drunk
2) In case of 1) , whether they became cocky enough to cross the water considering they were in a Fortuner.
Cant blame Google Maps at all in any case. People using it should know better than driving on a perhaps unknown stretch in the middle of the night , and be conscious of the road conditions at all times.

[GTO]

Just reaffirms my faith in daytime driving. As Team-BHP has often advised, night driving on Indian highways / rural roads is a STRICT no-no. My family has given up night driving outside Mumbai since a long time.

Because of the time, I also think some / all of the following might be responsible:

- Drowsiness, sleepiness & tiredness?

- Poor visibility

- High speed (you don't drive the entire car into a water body just like that)

- Alcohol?

[Stribog]

50% fault of driver - as others have pointed out, if you see a water body, you stop, guage, evaluate, study, and then not go ahead if you are not 100% certain.

40% of the govt / PWD - if this is a known issue, then there should be clear warning signs

10% of Google - though if it is not commonly used, then I am not sure how it can get crowd sourced updates.

Edit -

@ GTO, no one can be that sleepy that you don't even notice water climbing up to and beyond your bonnet and you keep driving on.

Either confidence that it is a big butch car and the water will bottom out or alcohol or a combination of both.

[srini1785]

RIP.

Google maps has an option of sticking to Highways and toll roads only while going to a destination. The default settings, are for shortest route which means you are at the mercy of G Maps. I must however admit that for certain destinations, some off-roading, gullying (passing through gully) and potentially bad roads is inevitable. The one default setting that I have made up in the mind is to do driving only during the day time and maximum up to 8PM in the evenings.

So much for AI unconsciously getting into our lives.

[jeeva]

I never ever trust miss. Google with my car and life on Indian roads! She has taught me lessons for life. Twice.

About 2 AM in the morning, somewhere in the outskirts of Coimbatore, unknown patchy village roads, in a low slung Octavia following Google maps. The lady kept asking me to go straight when I could see that the bridge in front of me is completely broken down. The very next week, someone who blindly trusted the lady, eyes-closed drove straight into the rut and lost his life.

Google maps showed me shortcuts to bypass the traffic, I happily obliged. She took me through some not-so-nice colonies and finally ditched me in a paddy field. And this was during the monsoon. The car was a fully kitted up 4x4 Scorpio with KA registration roaming around aimlessly in the rural paddy fields of Kerala. When asked around for directions, rather than helping me get back to the NH, they were more curious about my identity, and how the hell I reached their colony! The damn 4x4 saved my day.

These days, my basic instinct is to turn right, when the lady wants me to turn left!

[gatsby_great]

Very very sad indeed. I think he might have thought it to be a causeway or shallow crossing and after entering further he might have thought to cross rather than come back. Road should have been blocked. Google or any map is unreliable in India anyway

[windrider]

I am a massive fan of Google maps. Being an introvert in my younger years, there was nothing that I hated more than having to ask strangers for directions. Google maps helped me a lot in those initial years when I started doing solo rides on my bike. But as I started getting more adventurous and venturing through roads less travelled I found out that Google maps can be relied on only 90% of the time. That last crucial 10% will royally screw up your day. Once while riding through the wonderful western ghats in kerala after the rainy season, I took a shortcut suggested by google that would have saved me about 18-20 kms and happily rode in that direction. Bad choice. After about a few kilometres I noticed that the roads were covered by more than the normal amount of fallen leaves and branches found on forest roads and it looked like vehicle had passed through for atleast a couple of days but decided to trust google since by that point I was passing through dense jungle and there wasn't a soul in sight to ask for directions . After riding for about 5 more minutes I started feeling something was wrong. I hadn't seen a single vehicle go in the opposite direction nor any sign of human life on the way. My fears came true when sometime later I came upon a river crossing without any warning . The crossing was only about 15 ft wide but the water was too deep and flowing too fast. There was no way I was going to be able to cross it. God knows what would have happened to me if I was travelling faster or at night since the headlights on my unicorn were as bright as candles at night. So had to turn back. After experiencing a few more incidents like this, whenever I go to less travelled places, I ask the locals for directions just to confirm even though I have google maps. A lot of times google doesn't differentiate between public and private roads and sometimes you may end up on private property. Some tips I follow while taking alternate routes on gmaps are:-
1) open satellite view in maps and try to make out if you can see a
proper road whenever your data connection permits.
2) make sure your navigation option is set to drive option and not
on two-wheelers. This will help in avoiding narrow or kacha
roads.
3) Talk to the locals. They know their land better than any app.
4) If you can, avoid traveling alone through forests, deserted
areas etc especially on two wheelers. Any small accident can
leave you incapacitated and you could be in serious danger.

Use your own intuition and make decisions. The govt and local authorities can only be trusted so much.

Cheers

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by TorqueSteer

Attachment 2107112

The trio was travelling in the Toyota Fortuner, which is very capable SUV.

Source : https://www.cartoq.com/man-google-maps-drown/

From the picture that seems to be a Ford Endeavor.

[Neversaygbye]

I think this unfortunate incident happened because of multiple reasons and not just one - lack of signage (negligence on PWD's part), poor judgment on deciding to carry on even after seeing the water and of course the wrong guidance of Google Maps.

Google Maps is never to be trusted blindly - i remember that it had sent me on an unnecessary 30 km detour through rural roads in UP when I was going from Benaras to Bandhavgarh. It was daytime but still scary because the road was completely desolate and anything could have happened. Lesson learnt, I now add stops and go from one point to another rather than plan the entire route in one go as I have seen that Google tends to stick to the main roads in the former case.

[i@M.S.K]

Although its quite a sad incident. It surely brings many concerning points to the surface.

1. When local authorities knew of the water released from dam would submerge bridge for 4 months, its their duty to have barricaded the road approaching it. Placing boulders on road would have sufficed.

2. Google maps are not trustworthy and cannot be substituted with age old techniques of asking directions from locals.
Many a times while travelling in Mumbai, it doesn't show entry exit points of flyovers resulting in outsiders having to navigate heavy traffic and cover extra distances for no fault of theirs.

3. When in unknown land at odd hours and on unfamiliar route, its always good to halt for the night at some trustworthy hotel and start for the journey when daylight appears. No matter how urgent the trip might be, better be late to arrive than never.
The fact that the driver could navigate using GMaps tells he had good connectivity and GPS signal. All 3 of them could've been wiser in using the same to search for a good retreat for night.

[nandrive]

The users should take more responsibility. I don't know how people can blindly believe Google maps or any other maps with out even trying alternatives. If I am traveling on any unfamiliar road, I always make sure I check the satellite view of the maps of entire route, check the street view on important turns and deviations. I also have offline map application and make sure Google maps route matches with other apps if not I check the difference and create custom route. Mapfactor is one offline free app on Android I always found very helpful.
For me checking street view before traveling on the route is very a fun activity and I get that Deja Vu effect.

[pawank]

RIP. This is very sad. But again google maps isn't at fault. People use google maps like Tesla Auto driving mode. All I can say is that please keep your eyes and brains open while driving on road and don't rely blindly on google maps.

[Engine_Roars]

Like so many have already mentioned, I would not blame google maps for this death. Simple logic, If I ask you to go jump in a well, will you? You won't, if you are in your senses.

Most probably, either the guys were under the influence or over estimated the capability of the vehicle they were in. If I see such a huge water body, there is no way I am entering it even if Sundar Pichai comes from Alphabet headquarters and ask me to do it.