Friday, January 18, 2013

GPS Takes Woman Driver On 1,800-mile Detour

When Sabine Moreau left home to pick her friend up from the train station, she estimated that the 38-mile trip would take her about an hour.

Unfortunately, the 67-year-old Belgian woman didn’t factor in the possibility of a malfunctioning GPS navigation system.

Rather than her intended destination of Brussels, Moreau found herself 900 miles away in Zagreb, Croatia – a two-day detour that took her through six different countries.

Despite seeing traffic signs in multiple languages, refueling several times, and crossing five European borders, Moreau did not stop to question her TomTom navigational system until she arrived in Zagreb.

"I saw all kinds of traffic signs. First in French, then in German - Cologne, Aachen, Frankfurt," she told a Belgium news website.

"But I didn't ask myself any questions. I was just distracted, so I kept my foot down," she added.

When Moreau failed to arrive at the train station to collect her friend, the hapless motorist’s son reported her missing.

Police searched her house and were on the verge of launching a full-scale manhunt when she phoned home to say she was in Zagreb.

Moreau then faced another 900-mile journey back to her home in Soire-sur-Sambre, Belgium, finally arriving 60 hours after she first set out.

A spokesman for police in Belgium told news sources: 'This is an incredible story.

'These GPS systems cause problems from time to time but nothing like this. But this woman has done nothing wrong and we just have to believe her.'

Some people just don’t know when to quit using Apple Maps…

"I guess I didn't read the signs properly..."