20 cars followed GPS and all got stuck on a snowy road in Oregon
- Around 20 motorists became trapped after following their GPS
- The drivers blindly followed the navigation system down a snowy road
- Rescue workers had to be called to the scene
Published on Nov 26, 2024 at 8:45 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Nov 26, 2024 at 11:11 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
At least 20 motorists were stranded on a snowy road in Oregon after blindly following their GPS systems.
Oregon’s Ruckle Road is a steep, gravel road that is not maintained during heavy snowfall in winter.
But that didn’t stop a bunch of motorists from taking the road when their GPS suggested the shortcut.
The cars were stuck for so long that search and rescue crews had to be sent out to save them.
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Around 20 vehicles got stranded in Oregon thanks to their GPS
While GPS makes life easier for millions of motorists across the world each and every day, it can have unfortunate consequences if those behind the wheel aren’t paying proper attention – just ask this BMW driver who got his $145,000 B3 Touring stuck on a hiking trail.
Or you could ask any of the 20-or-so folks who got themselves trapped on the snow-covered Ruckle Road in northeast Oregon on November, 20.
After getting stuck, one motorist used his iPhone to send out a satellite SOS to the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
When other similar SOS signals were sent out, officials originally believed they were all coming from the same trapped motorist.
However, when rescue workers headed out to the scene in a tracked utility task vehicle (UTV ), they discovered more than a dozen vehicles were stuck.
It took rescue workers hours to get all the cars on their way
In a post shared on Facebook, Union County Search and Rescue explained that the cars had become stranded in the deep snow and soon realized the UTV wasn’t going to be quite enough to get this rescue mission done and dusted.
The rescue workers called on Union County Public Works for help and the two teams ‘worked into the dark’ to make sure all the vehicles were safely unstuck and sent on their way.
The SAR team went on to urge other motorists to think twice before following directions from navigation systems.
“This incident serves as an important reminder of the need to carefully evaluate, and often not follow, GPS-provided directions, especially in the winter months,” the post said.
Good advice – because finding yourself trapped on a dark, wintery road is snow joke.
Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
