Driver gets stranded on Utah mountain after following Google Maps ‘shortcut’
A 23-year-old man was rescued from a Utah mountainside after he followed a “shortcut” route recommended by Google Maps and ended up trapped in his car.
The unnamed man drove his Toyota Turcell through an ungroomed dirt road up Strawberry Peak as he tried to get from Springville to Vernal on July 4, officials with Wasatch County Search and Rescue said.
But the two-door car couldn’t make it over the rough terrain and the driver found himself trapped in the dark woods just before 12:40 a.m., the officials said.
He called 911 and search and rescue teams responded.
The rescue mission took three hours in total as the crews brought the driver down the mountain to safety, according to the organization.
The driver was not injured.
Google Maps has led drivers astray before — and in some instances, the mistake was fatal.
In 2022, a married dad of two drove his Jeep off the road into a creek on a dark, stormy night after following Google Maps directions — which failed to take into account that the bridge there had collapsed nearly a decade earlier.
The car plunged off an unguarded edge and crashed 20 feet into the waters below. Philip Paxson, 47, drowned and his widow sued the tech giant for negligence last September.
