Wrong Way Driver Blames GPS

We have all experienced strange routes that our GPS sends us down.

Once a rider was directed to a dirt road over a mountain since it was a couple of miles longer to take the beautiful paved road around the mountain. A recent driver drove up a highway exit ramp beginning to enter the high-speed highway in the wrong direction when, fortunately, only a minor collision occurred.

Can the driver be relieved of liability by claiming she was following GPS? NO! All drivers have an obligation to drive in a reasonable and prudent fashion. They are obligated to follow the reasonable speed limits, and highway signs including "do not enter" signs that are located on every highway exit. Just because the person on the GPS monitor instructs you to take a left now does not mean that a driver could or should follow any directions blindly.

Since there are increasing reasons for individuals to get in car accidents, now GPS being a new one, it is important that all drivers insure themselves and their families through adequate under insured or uninsured motorist coverage along with an umbrella policy. We recommend that all drivers maintain at least a $250,000 liability and uninsured motorist level. We also recommend that the family expend another $200 or so to have a $1 million umbrella policy. That policy should provide under insured coverage so that in the event of a serious accident, the medical bills will not gobble up all of the insurance coverage available with sufficient left over to cover potential lifetime lost earnings, pain and suffering disabilities and other damages that frequently go uncompensated because of the lack of insurance coverage. Feel free to give our office a call for any insight in this area. The call is always free