7 of 9 people, including 6 players and the coach, traveling in a van NW of Midland-Odessa were killed in a traffic accident. Very sad. Condolences to all involved, their family and friends.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/6-stud...d=msedgntp

University of the Southwest is a private Christian university in Hobbs, New Mexico.

What a horrible accident. May they rest in peace, and may God bless their families and friends in this time of extreme pain and sorrow.

This was a terrible accident on rural roads out here in W. Texas. Head on collision.

I’m not sure why the team chose to take that particular route when there were much safer and better maintained roads in the immediate area. They chose a very rural oil field highway with lots of heavy truck traffic.

Apparently it was a 13 year old kid driving the truck.

13 year old driver and an adult in the truck were also killed, so a total of 9 killed.

NTSB investigating. I didn’t realize NTSB investigated vehicle crashes, but apparently, if the crash is horrific enough, they do.

(03-16-2022 04:05 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I’m not sure why the team chose to take that particular route when there were much safer and better maintained roads in the immediate area. They chose a very rural oil field highway with lots of heavy truck traffic.

According to GoogleMaps, the route they took -- via FM 1788 -- is 4 miles and 4 minutes shorter between the Midland golf course where the tournament was being played (Ranchland Hills) and College of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.Mex. than the route that uses state route 176 ... or U.S. 385 (+5 miles, +8 min).

(03-17-2022 04:33 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  Apparently it was a 13 year old kid driving the truck.

And ... "Preliminary information indicates the left front tire of the pickup was a spare that failed, causing the vehicle to pull hard to the left into oncoming traffic of a two-lane roadway, NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/us/usw-go...index.html

(03-17-2022 05:49 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(03-16-2022 04:05 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I’m not sure why the team chose to take that particular route when there were much safer and better maintained roads in the immediate area. They chose a very rural oil field highway with lots of heavy truck traffic.

According to GoogleMaps, the route they took -- via FM 1788 -- is 4 miles and 4 minutes shorter between the Midland golf course where the tournament was being played (Ranchland Hills) and College of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.Mex. than the route that uses state route 176 ... or U.S. 385 (+5 miles, +8 min).

You’re right, Mike. The route they chose is a bit shorter. However, it’s also a lot more dangerous. Two lane road. Very rural and not much illumination. And, as I said, populated with Frac sand trucks and big water haulers. I’ve driven that road once or twice in the day. I’d never drive it at night.

(03-17-2022 07:09 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(03-17-2022 05:49 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(03-16-2022 04:05 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I’m not sure why the team chose to take that particular route when there were much safer and better maintained roads in the immediate area. They chose a very rural oil field highway with lots of heavy truck traffic.

According to GoogleMaps, the route they took -- via FM 1788 -- is 4 miles and 4 minutes shorter between the Midland golf course where the tournament was being played (Ranchland Hills) and College of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.Mex. than the route that uses state route 176 ... or U.S. 385 (+5 miles, +8 min).

You’re right, Mike. The route they chose is a bit shorter. However, it’s also a lot more dangerous. Two lane road. Very rural and not much illumination. And, as I said, populated with Frac sand trucks and big water haulers. I’ve driven that road once or twice in the day. I’d never drive it at night.

Agree.

There are quite a few cases here in Northern California where drivers have taken Google-suggested routes around freeway backups in the Sierra Nevada, only to find themselves on narrow timber-truck roads that are covered in snow that's not plowed ... and they get stuck and have to be rescued.

I'm surprised that Google doesn't give warnings for such routes -- or they are not suggested in the first place -- when conditions are not ideal (such as night-time, in the case of FM 1788).

(03-17-2022 07:09 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(03-17-2022 05:49 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(03-16-2022 04:05 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I’m not sure why the team chose to take that particular route when there were much safer and better maintained roads in the immediate area. They chose a very rural oil field highway with lots of heavy truck traffic.

According to GoogleMaps, the route they took -- via FM 1788 -- is 4 miles and 4 minutes shorter between the Midland golf course where the tournament was being played (Ranchland Hills) and College of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.Mex. than the route that uses state route 176 ... or U.S. 385 (+5 miles, +8 min).

You’re right, Mike. The route they chose is a bit shorter. However, it’s also a lot more dangerous. Two lane road. Very rural and not much illumination. And, as I said, populated with Frac sand trucks and big water haulers. I’ve driven that road once or twice in the day. I’d never drive it at night.

The oldest in the golf team's vehicle was their coach at only 26. He probably just set Google Maps on the quickest route, and that's how it sent them. I don't think algorithmic routing considers "safety/ease of drive". If it's a public road and there's not heavy traffic, the computer considers it as good as any other, and it's really easy to just blindly accept whatever directions the GPS gives without thinking.

(03-17-2022 07:17 PM)franklyconfused Wrote:  

(03-17-2022 07:09 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(03-17-2022 05:49 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(03-16-2022 04:05 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I’m not sure why the team chose to take that particular route when there were much safer and better maintained roads in the immediate area. They chose a very rural oil field highway with lots of heavy truck traffic.

According to GoogleMaps, the route they took -- via FM 1788 -- is 4 miles and 4 minutes shorter between the Midland golf course where the tournament was being played (Ranchland Hills) and College of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.Mex. than the route that uses state route 176 ... or U.S. 385 (+5 miles, +8 min).

You’re right, Mike. The route they chose is a bit shorter. However, it’s also a lot more dangerous. Two lane road. Very rural and not much illumination. And, as I said, populated with Frac sand trucks and big water haulers. I’ve driven that road once or twice in the day. I’d never drive it at night.

The oldest in the golf team's vehicle was their coach at only 26. He probably just set Google Maps on the quickest route, and that's how it sent them. I don't think algorithmic routing considers "safety/ease of drive". If it's a public road and there's not heavy traffic, the computer considers it as good as any other, and it's really easy to just blindly accept whatever directions the GPS gives without thinking.

Yeah. I totally agree. A couple of years ago I plugged in a Google route in rural Virginia. At night. I just automatically thought it would be fine. What could go wrong? Scariest ride of my life

This is a sad situation, but there are a number of lessons to be learned here...

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people of that age or even older literally sneer at the idea of using a map to plan a route in advance. I’ve long thought that generational disdain for actually understanding routes, and preference instead for unthinking reliance on sequential instructions, is a bad trend.

(03-18-2022 08:04 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people of that age or even older literally sneer at the idea of using a map to plan a route in advance. I’ve long thought that generational disdain for actually understanding routes, and preference instead for unthinking reliance on sequential instructions, is a bad trend.

I don't know how many times--but it's a lot--that I've gone to Google Maps for a route and then taken their second or third choice, because I did not like something about their first choice.

(03-17-2022 07:09 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(03-17-2022 05:49 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(03-16-2022 04:05 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  I’m not sure why the team chose to take that particular route when there were much safer and better maintained roads in the immediate area. They chose a very rural oil field highway with lots of heavy truck traffic.

According to GoogleMaps, the route they took -- via FM 1788 -- is 4 miles and 4 minutes shorter between the Midland golf course where the tournament was being played (Ranchland Hills) and College of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.Mex. than the route that uses state route 176 ... or U.S. 385 (+5 miles, +8 min).

You’re right, Mike. The route they chose is a bit shorter. However, it’s also a lot more dangerous. Two lane road. Very rural and not much illumination. And, as I said, populated with Frac sand trucks and big water haulers. I’ve driven that road once or twice in the day. I’d never drive it at night.

Probably no center stripe, lots of curves. I live on one such.

There's local knowledge and then there are 13 year-olds driving very likely incapacitated adults around in poorly maintained vehicles which seems to be a far more proximate cause than choice of route.

(03-18-2022 03:08 PM)mebehutchi Wrote:  There's local knowledge and then there are 13 year-olds driving very likely incapacitated adults around in poorly maintained vehicles which seems to be a far more proximate cause than choice of route.

Absolutely. I for one did not mean to imply otherwise.

(03-18-2022 03:11 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(03-18-2022 03:08 PM)mebehutchi Wrote:  There's local knowledge and then there are 13 year-olds driving very likely incapacitated adults around in poorly maintained vehicles which seems to be a far more proximate cause than choice of route.

Absolutely. I for one did not mean to imply otherwise.

Not at all - I was just amused - I agreed with all the comments as well about not being entirely app reliant. But I'm aged.

FWIW I did a fair amount of driving between Midland and Hobbs in a stint with a service company, and I was never as frightened as I was every day I commuted to downtown Houston.

(03-18-2022 03:08 PM)mebehutchi Wrote:  There's local knowledge and then there are 13 year-olds driving very likely incapacitated adults around in poorly maintained vehicles which seems to be a far more proximate cause than choice of route.

And the incidence of those is probably higher on back roads than main drags.

(03-18-2022 03:57 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(03-18-2022 03:08 PM)mebehutchi Wrote:  There's local knowledge and then there are 13 year-olds driving very likely incapacitated adults around in poorly maintained vehicles which seems to be a far more proximate cause than choice of route.

And the incidence of those is probably higher on back roads than main drags.

Right. Because the 13 year old uses google maps for sure.