Hyundai Verna Falls From Under Construction Flyover After Driver Follows Google Maps: Occupants Safe [Video]
Google Maps is turning out to be the villain in many road trips lately. We have come across several videos and reports recently where the navigation app is actually misguiding people through roads or routes that don’t exist. The recent report comes from Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district where a Hyundai Verna was left hanging mid-air after the driver following Google Maps drove over an under-construction flyover.
The videos and images of the car that fell off an under-construction flyover have been circulating on various social media platforms since morning. As per the reports, the car was coming from Nepal and going towards Gorakhpur late Sunday. The highway which connects India and Nepal via the Gorakhpur-Sonauli route is currently undergoing construction work at several spots.
The accident happened at night and the driver was following Google Maps. As it was dark, the driver was relying mostly on the maps and it didn’t show any flyover ahead. The Hyundai Verna driver drove the car up the flyover and he immediately applied brakes when he realised that there was no road ahead.
The car was coming in at decent speed and although the driver applied brakes, it wasn’t enough to stop the car before falling off the edge. However, they were lucky that the driver managed to avoid a high-speed crash which might have been fatal too.
The car fell off the edge and locals who heard the loud noise came out and gathered outside. When they saw, the car was actually hanging in mid-air from the edge of an under-construction flyover. The occupants inside the car managed to escape from the accident without any major injuries. They managed to exit the vehicle with considerable effort.
Locals did inform the police about the accident but, by the time they arrived, the occupants had escaped and the car was empty. In the morning, when the construction company workers responsible for the flyover arrived, they lifted the car using a crane and removed the vehicle from the flyover.
The occupants of the car were present at the spot when the car was brought down and once this was done, they immediately drove the car off without informing the authorities. When asked, Pharenda SHO Prashant Pathak said, "By the time we reached the site, the car and its occupants had already left. They had the car removed with the help of a crane before our arrival."
This incident is actually pointing at one of many instances of negligence. The first issue here was with Google Maps. The navigation app shouldn’t have ideally asked the driver to go ahead on a flyover that was still under construction. The other negligence was on the part of the construction company. If the flyover is still under construction, they should have ideally kept a barricade or a large board that asks road users to take a diversion.
In this case, it looks like that was also missing. Google Maps doesn’t indicate the presence of a flyover at all as it might not have been updated yet. This is not the first time we have come across an incident like this.
People have actually lost their lives in accidents that were caused by Google Maps in the past. The only thing you can do if you are travelling at night and through an unknown area is to stay alert to your surroundings to avoid such accidents.