Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. News

A Google Maps detour trapped 100 drivers on a muddy one-lane road

Allison Matyus
By

You can’t always trust your map app: faulty Google Maps directions led some Aurora, Colo. area drivers to a strange and muddy detour on Sunday. The app seemed to be trying to route them around a crash, but instead ended up causing a separate traffic jam. 

Google’s detour suggestion dumped dozens of drivers on a one-way dirt road, according to Denver7. Rainy weather from earlier in the weekend caused a muddy patch that drivers say ended up causing a 100-car backup due.

Recommended Videos

Many of the drivers blamed Google Maps for taking them to the off-road detour in the first place, relying on the app to automatically reroute them when traffic gets bad. The incident shows just how much we can trust our smartphone apps.

Related

“My thought was, ‘Well there are all these other cars in front of me so it must be OK.’ So I just continued,” driver Connie Monsees told Denver7.

“The question is why did Google send us out there to begin with? There was no turning back once you were out there,” she added.

While Google Maps has many useful features, like real-time information on traffic and transit options as well as SOS alerts for natural disasters, the app can’t always predict roads affected by daily weather, remote road closures, and other issues that are undetectable by GPS. 

It wasn’t too long ago that drivers relied on actual maps to get them from point A to point B, but with the advancement in technology, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone with a map in their glove box nowadays. 

According to the Washington Post, an essential part of our culture is “wayfinding,” or being aware of our environment and barriers during travel. With our reliance on GPS systems like Google Maps, we plug an address in, go on autopilot mode and don’t necessarily remember how we got to our destination. 

Google didn’t respond to our request for comment, but a spokesperson told ABC News that Google Maps takes “many factors into account when determining driving routes, including the size of the road and the directness of the route.”

“While we always work to provide the best directions, issues can arise due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather,” the spokesperson said. “We encourage all drivers to follow local laws, stay attentive, and use their best judgement while driving.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Allison Matyus
Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
Google Maps, Bing Maps add marker for Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C.
Google Maps Adds Marker for Black Lives Plaza

Google Maps and Bing Maps have added a marker for the "Black Lives Matter Plaza" in Washington D.C., after a section of the street directly in front of the White House was officially renamed by the city's mayor and painted with the protest slogan.

Social unrest has swept through the U.S. over the past couple of weeks, triggered by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by city police officers. Washington, D.C., has seen its own protests with thousands in attendance.

Read more
Google Maps places delivery and takeout front and center
nomiku meals home delivery top chefs 2017 full meal c 005

If you’re one of the many millions who’s been told by the authorities to lock down during the coronavirus crisis, you’ve no doubt been busy exploring different ways to get the grub in.

Whether it’s trips to the supermarket, online grocery orders, meal deliveries, takeout, or a combination of these, these days there are plenty of ways to get yourself properly fed.

Read more
Google Maps data shows whether people in your area are staying at home
Google Community Mobility Report

Google has published an early look at its COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports, a set of reports for use by health officials showing the effect of the pandemic coronavirus, officially called COVID-19, on people's mobility. Google has used anonymized location data to track the degree to which people are complying with social distancing advice and staying home rather than attending public places like restaurants, parks, and transit stations. The reports also indicate how many people are still required to travel to work, as opposed to working from home.

"In Google Maps, we use aggregated, anonymized data showing how busy certain types of places are -- helping identify when a local business tends to be the most crowded," Jen Fitzpatrick, SVP of Geo and Karen DeSalvo, Chief Health Officer at Google Health, wrote in a blog post. "We have heard from public health officials that this same type of aggregated, anonymized data could be helpful as they make critical decisions to combat COVID-19."

Read more