A group of people in grocery getter crossovers and a Kia Stinger of all things tried off-roading through the Nevada desert to skip the traffic log jam on I-15 after the Formula One race in Las Vegas. While they’re blaming the decision on Google Maps which suggested the route as a faster way, we aren’t the least bit fooled.
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After watching the F1 race, which was full of its own mishaps, these motorsports fans were faced with a traffic jam on the interstate thanks in part to a dust storm in the Mojave Desert or going on a route Google Maps swore was faster. And like suckers they just drove down a literal dirt trail in the middle of the desert, not stopping until their ill-equipped vehicles got stuck. Tow trucks had to rescue them hours later.
And thus we see modernity has made quite a few people soft. Have them depart the pavement for a few miles and they’re helpless. Also, when technology tells them to do something they don’t even question it. There’s a lesson in this story.
People have driven into lakes and even the ocean upon being commanded to do so by their navigation app. That tendency was lampooned in an episode of The Office and yet here we are in 2023 with plenty of people still doing the same thing. Just watch Matt’s Off Road Recovery on YouTube to see what we mean.
Now in the report from SFGate one of the people foolish enough to try taking this “shortcut” through the desert claims they’ve never been to Vegas from Los Angeles before and so they had no idea I-15 was the only real way to safely do so. And this is how soft society has become. People used to carry paper maps and plot out their journey themselves. Now we just do whatever our phone tells us without asking any questions like why am I driving on a dirt trail instead of the interstate? Unbelievable.
Images via TikTok
