A driver had to be rescued from a Utah mountain after following a “shortcut” suggested by Google Maps.
The 23-year-old man, whose identity has not been disclosed, found himself stranded in the Strawberry area late Thursday night. Wasatch County Search and Rescue teams responded to the emergency call at midnight and spent three hours rescuing the driver from his predicament.
The man was stuck in his Toyota Tercel on the west side of Strawberry Peak. Images taken by the rescue team show the blue car on a rugged dirt trail, highlighting the challenging conditions the rescue teams faced. They had to use all-terrain vehicles to reach the stranded driver.
According to the rescuers, the man ended up on the mountain due to a shortcut recommended by Google Maps.
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Wasatch County Search and Rescue posted on social media, “911 Dispatch Center received a call from a stranded motorist. The 23-year-old male was stuck in his Toyota Tercel on the west side of Strawberry Peak.”
“This was the shortcut that Google recommended between Springville and Vernal.”
“The driver was uninjured but required transport off the mountain. SAR teams responded and rendered assistance,” the statement added.
This is not new with Google Maps
Google Maps has caused similar problems for drivers in Utah from time to time.
Emery County Sheriff Tyson Huntington told ABC4 that his office receives multiple calls each month from stranded motorists on a remote road on East Mountain. He explained, “We’ve had a problem with people traveling into Utah and they’ll put just ‘Utah’ into their Google search … and it leads them to this remote area of our county.”
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Sheriff Huntington noted that in every instance, search and rescue teams successfully assisted the stranded motorists and their vehicles. However, due to the frequency of these incidents, the sheriff’s office reached out to Google to address the problematic routing.
“We’ve had to take those steps to try to be able to mitigate the problems, but we haven’t had any luck with Google until today,” Huntington said earlier.
Emery County Sheriff is happy and ‘super excited’ with Google’s swift response
The most severe case involved an 18-wheel semi-truck with a trailer that got stuck in the mud after its GPS directed the driver onto the remote road. Following this, the sheriff’s department and a news outlet contacted Google, which promptly responded.
A Google spokesperson explained the company’s approach to updating maps, saying, “We use multiple sources to update the map – including contributions from the community, information from local authorities, along with Street View and satellite imagery. We’ve updated this route on our map and it should be reflected in the coming days.”
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Huntington replied back with relief and satisfaction, saying they were “super excited” when Google took action.
“We’re happy that [travelers] won’t run into that problem anymore, it won’t damage their vehicles or cause problems, and then we’re able to keep our resources in the most populous areas of our county,” he expressed.