At least five cars have been sent hurtling down steps on a pedestrian-only street in a Spanish town after their drivers followed the erroneous instructions of their satellite navigations systems.
4:29PM BST 02 Jun 2013
The latest incident in the medieval town of Teruel happened last Tuesday when a stricken estate car had to be rescued by a crane after its driver blindly followed his satnav directions down the side street on to a cobbled staircase.
At least four other drivers had to be similarly rescued in recent weeks after making the same mistake in the Aragonese town in eastern Spain.
"This is not an isolated case," admitted a spokesman from the local police force. "It's happened at least five times."
The repeated satnav error has puzzled locals as the street - named Calle Hartzenbuch after a 19th century Spanish playwright - has never been open to motorized traffic.
"I can't understand why someone would try to drive down there," one neighbour interviewed on local television said after the latest incident. "It's obvious from the top of the street that it is a staircase."
The city council has said it will install bollards at the top of the staircase to deter motorists from trying to navigate the street.
It is just the latest in a spate of serious GPS gaffes to be reported in Spain.
In October 2010 a driver drowned after following satnav directions that had not been updated to include the creation of a reservoir at Capilla in western Spain's Extramadura region.
The 37-year-old was driving at night along an old road that ended in the reservoir and drove straight into the water, his car sinking within seconds.
In 2008, a truck driver set out from Turkey with a consignment of new cars bound for Gibraltar, the British oversees territory at the southwestern tip of Spain. Instead he arrived at Gibraltar point in Skegness, some 1,600 miles from his intended destination.
在西班牙的一座小城，几周内有五辆汽车因遵循卫星导航系统的指引“误入歧途”。在本来“该是”正常车道的地方，他们开上了步行道，在本来“该是”平路的地方，他们开入了下坡道，更糟糕的是，那是同一段下坡步梯道。
据英国《每日电讯报》6月2日报道，5月28日，在西班牙小镇特鲁埃尔，一辆旅行车司机因盲目遵循卫星导航的方向，把车急速开下了一条小巷的鹅卵石梯道，结果汽车严重损坏，只能请吊车帮忙营救。最近几周之内，在这座西班牙东北部具有中世纪风格的阿拉贡小镇上，至少还有其他四辆车因相同的事故受到警方营救。
“这不是孤立的事件，”一位当地警察局的发言人说。“到现在为止至少发生过五次了。”
频发事故的这条街名叫Calle Hartzenbuch，是根据19世纪西班牙的一位剧作家的名字命名的。卫星导航一再出现的错误令当地人迷惑，因为这条街至今未向机动车开放。
“我不明白，为什么有人会把车开到那里，”最近这次事故之后，一位附近居民接受电视采访时这样说。“从街道顶端就能看到，这是一条梯道。”
该小城的市议会说，要在梯道顶端加装路界护柱，以阻止机动车司机开下街道。
2010年10月，在西班牙埃斯特雷马杜拉地区的卡皮亚市，由于卫星导航系统没有及时收录当地一座水坝的信息，一位司机在遵循导航的行驶过程中掉入水坝淹死了。
这位37岁的司机夜间驾车沿着一条老旧的公路前行，他并不知道公路尽头是一座水坝，就这样，他照直冲进了水里，汽车几秒之内就沉没了。
2008年，一位卡车司机拉着几辆托运中的新轿车从土耳其出发前往直布罗陀——英国在西班牙西南角的海外属地。但他永远没有达到身处大西洋与地中海之间要冲的直布罗陀，根据卫星导航的指引，他来到了英国东部林肯郡斯凯格内斯市附近的直布罗陀角，这里距离他真正的目的地远隔1600英里（2575公里)。