Liverpool FC Forum

destro wrote: Technology can be dangerous sometimes, I use to drive a 7.5 tonne around that area and my Sat Nav has taken me down some very risky ( short cuts) it got to the stage where I would get out and walk down the road just to see what my chances of making it were !

I read somewhere that an American bloke who had bought one of those fancy Motor Homes put it on auto cruise while driving and then left the wheel to go into the kitchen in the back to make a drink, obviously he crashed but more alarmingly he tried to sue the makers of the Motor Home !!

The motorhome one is one of those Darwin Awards for stupidity - think it was a woman who left it on cruise control and went to make a cup of tea and the motorhome went off a cliff 

GYBS wrote:

destro wrote::laugh: Technology can be dangerous sometimes, I use to drive a 7.5 tonne around that area and my Sat Nav has taken me down some very risky ( short cuts) it got to the stage where I would get out and walk down the road just to see what my chances of making it were !

I read somewhere that an American bloke who had bought one of those fancy Motor Homes put it on auto cruise while driving and then left the wheel to go into the kitchen in the back to make a drink, obviously he crashed but more alarmingly he tried to sue the makers of the Motor Home !!

The motorhome one is one of those Darwin Awards for stupidity - think it was a woman who left it on cruise control and went to make a cup of tea and the motorhome went off a cliff 

I have been searching the net for the story for the past 10 minutes but still no joy, I am pretty sure it was something to do with all the crazy Lawsuits going on at the time, like the woman who burnt herself with a McDonalds coffee that she had resting between her legs and so decided to Sue McDonalds ?

destro wrote:

GYBS wrote:

destro wrote::laugh: Technology can be dangerous sometimes, I use to drive a 7.5 tonne around that area and my Sat Nav has taken me down some very risky ( short cuts) it got to the stage where I would get out and walk down the road just to see what my chances of making it were !

I read somewhere that an American bloke who had bought one of those fancy Motor Homes put it on auto cruise while driving and then left the wheel to go into the kitchen in the back to make a drink, obviously he crashed but more alarmingly he tried to sue the makers of the Motor Home !!

The motorhome one is one of those Darwin Awards for stupidity - think it was a woman who left it on cruise control and went to make a cup of tea and the motorhome went off a cliff 

I have been searching the net for the story for the past 10 minutes but still no joy, I am pretty sure it was something to do with all the crazy Lawsuits going on at the time, like the woman who burnt herself with a McDonalds coffee that she had resting between her legs and so decided to Sue McDonalds ?

GRAHAM01 wrote:i think number 1 is the one you want but i thought i would add the other for fun 

It's   time   again   for the   annual   "Stella   Awards!"   For   those   unfamiliar with   these   awards,   they   are   named   after   81-year-old Stella   Liebeck,   who   spilled   hot   coffee   on   herself and   successfully   sued   the   McDonald's   in   New   Mexico where   she   purchased   the   coffee.   You   remember,   she  took   the   lid   off   the   coffee   and   put   it   between   her knees   while   she   was   driving.   Who   would   ever   think one   could   get   burned   doing   that,   right?   These   are awards   for   the   most   outlandish   lawsuits   and   verdicts in   the     U.S.    You   know,   the   kinds   of   cases   that   make you   scratch   your   head.   So   keep   your   head   scratcher handy.   Here   are   the   Stella's   for   the   past   year:   To kick   things   off   the   right   way,   there   was   a   three-way tie   for   5th   place. (7 - 5 here) 

7TH   PLACE   :   Kathleen   Robertson   of Austin   ,   Texas   was   awarded   $80,000   by   a   jury   of   her peers   after   breaking   her   ankle   tripping   over   a toddler   who   was   running   inside   a   furniture   store. The   store   owners   were   understandably   surprised   by the   verdict,   considering   the   running   toddler   was   her own   son.
===============================================================
     
6TH   PLACE :   Carl   Truman,   19,   of     Los   Angeles ,
California    -   you   knew     California    had   to   be   in   the
list   somewhere,   right?   -   who   won   $74,000   plus
medical   expenses   when   his   neighbor   ran   over   his   hand
with   a   Honda   Accord.   Truman   apparently   didn't   notice
there   was   someone   at   the   wheel   of   the   car   when   he
was   trying   to   steal   his   neighbor's   hubcaps.   Go
ahead,   grab   your   head   scratcher.
====================================================
     
5TH   PLACE :   Terrence   Dickson,   of     Bristol ,
Pennsylvania    was   leaving   a   house   he   had   just
burglarized   by   way   of   the   garage.   Unfortunately   for
Dickson,   the   automatic   garage   door   opener
malfunctioned   and   he   could   not   get   the   garage   door
to   open.   Worse,   he   couldn't   re-enter   the   house
because   the   door   connecting   the   garage   to   the   house
locked   when   Dickson   pulled   it   shut.   Forced   to
subsist   for   eight   -   count   'em,   EIGHT!   -   days   on   a
case   of   Pepsi   and   a   large   bag   of   dry   dog   food,   he
sued   the   homeowner's   insurance   company   claiming
undue   mental   anguish.   Amazingly,   the   jury   said   the
insurance   company   must   pay   Dickson   $500,000   for   his
anguish.   We   should   all   have   this   kind   of   anguish.
Keep   scratching,   there   are   more...
================================================================
     
4TH   PLACE :   Jerry   Williams,   of     Little   Rock ,     Arkansas ,
garnered   4th   place   in   the   Stella's   when   he   was
awarded   $14,500   plus   medical   expenses   after   being
bitten   on   the   butt   by   his   next   door   neighbor's
beagle   -   even   though   the   beagle   was   on   a   chain   in
its   owner's   fenced   yard.   Williams   did   not   get   as
much   as   he   asked   for   because   the   jury   believed   the
beagle   might   have   been   provoked   at   the   time   of   the
butt   bite   because   Williams   had   climbed   over   the
fence   into   the   yard   and   repeatedly   shot   the   dog   with
a   pellet   gun.   Grrrrr   ...  Scratch,   scratch.
   
====================================================
3RD   PLACE :   Amber     Carson    of     Lancaster ,     Pennsylvania ,
because   a   jury   ordered   a     Philadelphia    restaurant   to
pay   her   $113,500   after   she   slipped   on   a   spilled   soft
drink   and   broke   her   tailbone   (coccyx).   The   reason
the   soft   drink   was   on   the   floor:   Ms.     Carson    had
thrown   it   at   her   boyfriend   30   seconds   earlier   during
an   argument.   What   ever   happened   to   people   being
responsible   for   their   own   actions?   Scratch,  scratch,
scratch.   Hang   in   there;   there   are   only   two   more
Stellas   to   go...
====================================================
     
2ND   PLACE :   Kara   Walton,   of     Claymont    ,     Delaware    ,
sued   the   owner   of   a   night   club   in   a   nearby   city
because   she   fell   from   the   bathroom   window   to   the
floor,   knocking   out   her   two   front   teeth.   Even
though   Ms.   Walton   was   trying   to   sneak   through   the
ladies   room   window   to   avoid   paying   the   $3.50   cover
charge,   the   jury   said   the   night   club   had   to   pay   her
$12,000....oh,   yeah,   plus   dental   expenses.   Go
figure.
====================================================
     
1ST   PLACE :   This   year's   runaway   1st   place   Stella
Award   winner   was   Mrs.   Merv   Grazinski,   of    Oklahoma
City ,     Oklahoma    who   purchased   a   new   32-foot   Winnebago
motor   home.   On   her   first   trip   home,   from   an   OU
football   game,   no   less,   having   driven   on   to   the
freeway,   she   set   the   cruise   control   at   70   mph   and
calmly   left   the   driver's!   seat   to   go   to   the   back
of   the   Winnebago   to   make   herself   a   sandwich.   Not
surprisingly,   the   motor   home   left   the   freeway,
crashed   and   overturned.   Also   not   surprisingly,   Mrs.
Grazinski   sued   Winnebago   for   not   putting   in   the
owner's   manual   that   she   couldn't   actually   leave   the
driver's   seat   while   the   cruise   control   was   set.   The
Oklahoma    jury   awarded   her   -   you   are   sitting   down,
right?   $1,750,000   PLUS   a   new   motor   home.   Winnebago
actually   changed   their   manuals   as   a   result   of   this
suit,   just   in case   Mrs.   Grazinski   has   any   relatives
who   might   also   buy   a   motor   home.   Are   we,   as   a
society,   getting   more   stupid...or   what?

bunglemark2 wrote:Buy a map, or an atlas.....if you have to rely on a satellite hundreds of miles up in the sky to find the way from A to B, then you're probably too stupid to be driving in the first place....
I really don't get the obsession with them.

GYBS wrote:

bunglemark2 wrote:Buy a map, or an atlas.....if you have to rely on a satellite hundreds of miles up in the sky to find the way from A to B, then you're probably too stupid to be driving in the first place....
I really don't get the obsession with them.

They make life easier for people that do a lot of driving and also help you through traffic problems and enable you to not have to stop and look at a map every two secs . And just because people use them certainly does not make them stupid .

no the stupid ones are those who are driving hgv lorrys and go driving down some dusty lane whilst being told it is an A road and the dozy prats that drive in to fields and when asked why say...... the sat nav told me to 

bunglemark2 wrote:Buy a map, or an atlas.....if you have to rely on a satellite hundreds of miles up in the sky to find the way from A to B, then you're probably too stupid to be driving in the first place....
I really don't get the obsession with them.

Sat navs are contributing to the further dumbing down of society.  Learning to read maps and navigate successfully is becoming a lost art.  I was recently on a field trip to Washington DC and we had a bus driver who insisted on using the Sat Nav to get us around.  We'd drive by the attraction 5 times before stopping because he'd miss the little turn-off the Sat Nav wanted him to take and he'd refuse to just pull over and let us out across the street from the thing.  I finally lost it with him when he took the wrong exit off a traffic circle and clogged up traffic waiting for the fecking thing to "recalculate" the route.  At that point, I quite sharply pointed out that I was a trained geographer and could effectively get us to the bloody zoo with the basic city map I got from the hotel concierge.  He seemed skeptical at first but when I pulled off this little "miracle" he seemed almost in awe.  The guy drives people around for a living yet is awestruck when others can read a simple map.  Jesus wept.