Where's the streetwise Hercules ?

[venta]

I know we haven't had one for a while, but I've just spotted someone who should be Designated Hero of the Week:

Ms Paula Ceely

Who ? Well, according to the BBC she followed her sat nav's instructions and drove her car onto a railway line where it collided with a train.

Not very heroic, I hear you say. Arguably not very smart, either. Well, yes. But here's what she apparently said afterwards:

"I can't completely blame the sat nav because up until there, it did get me where I needed to go," she added.

"If maybe I had been more aware of the situation, I wouldn't have had the accident."

Now that is heroic. She hasn't threatened to sue the sat nav company. She hasn't railed at length about the lack of signs indicating the railway line. She hasn't called for the resignation of the cartographer/train driver/Prime Minister. She's actually (here's the scary bit) admitted that perhaps it might be her fault. When was the last time you heard someone in a news report attempting to take responsibility for their own actions like that ?

Ms Ceely, I salute you.

Comments

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Definitely not the sharpest tool in the box:

"I came to this crossing at Ffynongain and there was like a metal gate, which looked like just a normal farmers' gate with a red circle on it"

- Or as we call it in these parts: A level crossing

"I thought it was a dead end at first and then there was a little sign saying, if the light is green, open the gates and drive through."

- so she drove through it after previously admitting she couldn't see a light.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Aye, I was a bit confused about the light - it kind of got lost in the change in the BBC story. I had assumed that absence of green light => red light, but maybe not.

And yes, it was pretty stupid.

[erming.livejournal.com]

If a dhw is a designated hero of the week, does that mean dmh is a designated monthly hero?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Trust me. You don't want to know that dmh is.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I know a good geneticist who could find out...

[j4.livejournal.com]

"Area woman admits blame" shouldn't be that remarkable, should it? But, yes. A hero for our times. I wonder if she'll also work out from this incident that knowing what road signs mean isn't just some dumb-ass exam thing you have to learn to be able to have fun.

I had an argument with someone on a newsgroup a while ago about satnavs. He said (I paraphrase, but not much) "My 18-year-old daughter phoned me having got lost while out driving, and I had to drive the 10 miles to where she was and escort her home, pls can someone recommend a satnav so I can put one in her car so we don't have this problem again." I suggested that buying her a decent OS map might be a cheaper option, and was met with utter ridicule for suggesting that a modern girl might want to learn such a pointless, outdated skill as map-reading.

Sometimes I despair. Actually, no, usually I despair, other times I'm asleep.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

pointless, outdated skill as map-reading

Pointless until your SatNav dies on a dark country road in the middle of nowhere...

I won't even get in the car without a road atlas on the back seat.

I despair too.

[venta.livejournal.com]

My road atlas, plus A-Z's for Oxfordshire and Berkshire live in the car. I don't understand people who travel without an atlas. Even on a journey I know well, I might want an impromptu diversion if a road's blocked or something.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Or just a diversion for fun, to go and see something. Like... a church with a spire, or a ... what's those things you get on maps? Like a mound? Not tor, the other one. Thingy. You know.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Tumulus ? Often features on maps in respectable blackletter to make it look more, well, old and tumulusy.

[j4.livejournal.com]

TUMULUS! Thank you. There's never anything there, though, except, well, lumpy ground. But still. :)

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Tumuli?

[wechsler.livejournal.com]

I'm always mildly confused when I see a road atlas inside a house. Although admittedly that's where mine is, as the only car I have access to belongs to a carshare club. And I think it has its own atlas anyway.

http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/_images/db/42/91/LEVELCROSSING1.429125.full.jpg is a bit of a giveaway on the above story though.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Blimey, she's either blind or stupid (and I think I know which one)

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Note that if she is blind, she's therefore also stupid (for driving despite being stupidblind).

[j4.livejournal.com]

Pointless until your SatNav dies on a dark country road in the middle of nowhere...

Needless to say, I made that point... and the only response I got was "Yeah, and what if you open the car window and the map gets blown away by a strong wind?"

Despair despair despair. *headdesk*

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

"The ultimate effect of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools."

Herbert Spencer

[j4.livejournal.com]

Yes! Exactly! In a nutshell! Thank you.
[goes to find out who Herbert Spencer was]

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

A humanist 19th Century philosopher

Generally credited with the phrase "Survival of the fittest" (not Darwin)

[j4.livejournal.com]

*nods* I'm reading the Wikipedia entry now. Hurrah! I learned something today! Thank you again for educating me. :)

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

[Bows]

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

What if your brain accidentally fries and you're left stranded? Oh, wait... too late...

[hughe.livejournal.com]

for some reason that article is much funnier if you read it with a welsh accent.

if she admits its her fault her insurance might end up invalid. thats actualy a clause of most car insurence: you arent allowed to admit fault.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

What are those things on your head?

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I think most things are funnier if you read them in a Welsh accent, aren't they?

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

Do I get a kudo for saying "I need a hero" by Bonnie Tyler?

[wechsler.livejournal.com]

Isn't that a type of antelope?

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I hope so, I've been wondering what to have for dinner!

[venta.livejournal.com]

No, it's a soft rock singer, it's just got slightly weird hair.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Naturally :)

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Yep - a good reason for the award.

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Chief Inspector Paul Richards of British Transport Police: "We would advise people to use sat navs with due caution."

Also: don't drive onto a level crossing if there's a train coming.

Although I admire Ms Ceely for admitting fault, I'm still a bit worried that her conclusion from the incident is "don't use sat-nav". No, the conclusion should be "don't drive unless you know how roads work". I mean, what if she'd followed a map to the level crossing? Would she stop using those too?

[chrisvenus]

And the other thing I wonder is does she drive through traffic lights when they're on red because the satnav didn't tell her to stop? Its exactly the same thing but I bet if that happened people would be correctly saying "She should know to stop".

[reddragdiva]

This girl got into university.

*facepalm*

[chrisvenus]

"I can't completely blame the sat nav because up until there, it did get me where I needed to go"

Umm... I read this as that she is partly blaming the satnav which immediately disqualifies her from any kudos because she really shouldn't be even *slightly* blaming it. I read that statement (and it might be out of context given the article was clearly trying to blame satnav) and thought it just sounded like somebody subtley blaming satnav rather than blaming it while sounding like an idiot.

Why did the satnav ever even come up unless she was trying to blame it? Ms Ceely, hand in your driving licence immediately and don't even think about buying another car with the insurance money.

[octalbunny.livejournal.com]

I can't see her getting any insurance money, although I can see the train company getting some.