Driver Follows Navigation System Into River

["Vic Maslanka" <chaliapin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>BONN, Germany (Reuters) - A German motorist obediently following the
>satellite-guided navigation system of his car drove straight into the
>Havel River in eastern Germany, police said Saturday.
>
>He drove his BMW Friday night past a stop sign, down a ferry ramp and
>about four meters (12 feet) into the river before stopping. The
>57-year-old driver from Hamburg and his passenger were not hurt.
>
>Police said the driver reported he was following the navigation 
>system, which had evidently failed to note that the road in the town 
>of Caputh near Potsdam ended at a ferry crossing.
>
>``Normally accidents like this shouldn't happen,'' said police 
>spokesman Frank Heinichen. ``But that sort of thing can happen when 
>people rely too much on technology.'' 
>
>-- END OF STORY
>
>OTSDAM, Germany (AP) - A German couple out for a Christmas drive near
>Berlin ended up in a river - apparently because their luxury car's
>computer forgot to mention they had to wait for a ferry.
>
>The 57-year-old driver and his passenger were not injured in the
>accident, police said Saturday.
>
>Several companies sell computer navigators, some of which are >attached 
to dashboards and serve as electronic road maps. Some offer >traffic 
updates and Internet connections.
>
>The German couple was out driving Friday night when they came to a 
>ferry crossing at the Havel River in Caputh, six miles from Berlin.
>
>That information, however, was never stored in the satellite-steered
>navigation system they were using, police said. The driver kept going
>straight in the dark, expecting a bridge, and ended up in the water.
>
>River traffic was stopped for two hours while the car was fished out
>about 13 feet from the river bank.
>
>``You can't always blindly rely on technology,'' a coast guard police
>officer said. 
>
>-- END OF STORY
>

Vic Maslanka
'95 e36/5
chaliapin@domain.elided

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

------------------------------