A Pen Pen for your Thoughts

There have been a recent slew of German motorists crashing their vehicles but it’s all understandable and they can’t be blamed for this, after all they were only obeying orders. These orders did not come from the Nazi Party or from a snappily dressed leader with distinctive facial hair but from their satnavs, satellite navigation which apparently causes accidents and as I understand it, in no way genocide. In the most recent incident a motorist was told to turn left and he dutifully followed these orders. Fulfillment of this command turned his vehicle up and over the curb onto the track of a streetcar line. This held up a dozen tramcars until his vehicle could be towed off the track. Like the others who have had accidents because of their satnavs, the driver said he was “only obeying orders.”

Now, I understand following somewhat questionable directions from people or machines, but an unshakable following when something is obviously a problem does not seem like the best of ideas. For instance, when one is told to turn left, and one sees a train track, most of us would not immediately think “Shortcut! Thanks satnav! You have cut driving time to my destination in half or perhaps by some other fraction!” Most people that do not lack almost all common sense would probably register a problem with this. Obviously turning left onto a train track would be going against traffic. It seems to me that German people may have a problem with obeying orders unquestionably. However, I cannot justify this conclusion since there is not adequate historical data that coincides with it. Almost definitely none, if one goes without looking at records from around 1932 to 1950, many of which were mysteriously burned.

This could also be a new marketing deal that satnav has entered into. Obviously by indicating that going down a streetcar track leads one to reach a destination quicker, behind the accidents lay a partnership with local or national tram and train companies. These incidents hope to highlight the benefits of track-based transportation, perhaps even backed by some sort of governmental initiative to help the industry. The German government has a history of relying on track-based transport for many things, not just weapons of war, and therefore its promotion would be beneficial. If there is no such arrangement, then it must be some covert group’s attempt to damage satnav through these incidents. These perpetrators then try to shift the blame by claiming that they were “only obeying orders.”

Now, some would think that these incidents would hurt or damage satnav’s reputation as a functional navigation system that doesn’t lead its customers into deathtraps, but the situation can be spun to create a positive image for the product. Obviously, MOST of the time satnav is reliable and not at all an authoritarian regime or it could never have garnered such an unwavering devotion of “wreck before dishonor (of the satnav).” Other than an aberration every now and then, it works reliably well quite possibly. If one were to throw in a statistic or two attributing hard-to-fold maps or confusing directions from gas station personnel to create more wrecks or deaths than satnav then it would obviously be an improvement. One could even play the discrimination against technology card, since these stories get more playtime than “wreck due to faulty map.” Of course then it would be the maps fault due to an improper attitude towards folding, which was disobeying the orders of its owner, which is never an acceptable action, regardless of where it may lead. – 1/18/07