Member-only story
How Questioning a GPS Seems Amusing, But It’s Not the Smartest Thing to Do
I plead guilty
I was heading to my office one morning and decided to set my GPS with the building's address. It was a beautiful day with no clouds or rain in the forecast. The only hazard was the glare of the sun.
My office is forty miles from my house. On a good day, the drive takes thirty to forty-five minutes. On bad days the trip takes upwards of an hour and a half.
I don’t need my GPS; I know the way, but there are times I enjoy listening to its soothing voice, reassuring me that it knows more about road navigation than I do.
On this day, I noticed Molly, that’s the name of the voice, kept telling me to take an alternate route for my drive. It was spooky because my GPS is not connected to Onstar, and the maps haven’t been updated in five years. But something was telling it to guide me on a different route than usual.
I eventually turned it off.
Three miles into my drive, I take a flyover ramp, putting me on the freeway heading south to the city. On typical days, traffic is moderate but moving. I turned my GPS back on, and Molly was still insistent that I not get on the freeway.
I didn’t take her advice.
