Hundreds of drivers get stuck in the snowy Sierra Nevada after trying to bypass closed highways

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

RENO, Nev. — Google doesn't always know best.

Despite warnings to avoid travel after a massive snowstorm that started Christmas weekend closed major highways, thousands of people insisted on trying to drive into or out of the socked-in Sierra Nevada.

Some needed to get home. Some wanted to visit family. Some just wanted to play in the snow.

Some were led astray by poor judgement. Many were led astray by Google Maps, which offered alternate driving routes that sent drivers to snowy dead ends.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hundreds-of-drivers-get-stuck-in-the-snowy-sierra-nevada-after-trying-to-bypass-closed-highways/ar-AASfmKg

[NNadir]

1. During recent flooding in New Jersey, Google maps did a pretty good job with closed roads.

I don't know if anyone would do better without this amazing technology.

[Retrograde]

2. If the big roads are closed

because of snow, the smaller ones are almost certainly closed as well.

I-80 is the major road over the mountains, and the one that CalTrans tries to keep open as much as possible. It goes through Donner Pass - and pass is the operative word here: it's one of the relatively low spots where they can put a year-round road. Yes, there are a lot of smaller roads in the area, but back in the days when paper maps were the only thing available they were usually marked "subject to seasonal closures", which meant if it snows, don't try it before May or June.

Google Maps and similar apps are fine in urban and suburban areas. I've found them less helpful in more remote areas as I think their underlying data is suspect. Yeah, that line on the map they took their data from out in the desert may have been a mining road at one time, but no one's been maintaining it since the 1920s. I've been in at least one small ex-mining settlement where a "street" turned out to be a plank over a ditch. Too many people believe that if an app tells them something it must be correct.

[2naSalit]

3. Rule #1...

Don't rely on GPS in the mountains.

[lindysalsagal]

4. The same "but not me" mentality is what casinos bet on

To keep separating fools from their money. Every smoker also indulges in the "but not me" mentality. It's been a mainstay of society, so, of course we have covidiots and anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

5. 201 inches of snow in December at Donner Summit

Surpasses the record set in 1970. And it's still snowing today. Lots of photos on Facebook, even a video of a small snowado on U.S. 395, but they won't link properly here.

[Poiuyt]

6. Donner Party

How do you like your fellow passenger cooked?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

7. .

[rollin74]

8. people have gotten stuck and even died

after blindly following gps and apps like google maps and ended up on minor roads that are unmaintained during the winter

if it's winter time and you're in the mountains- stick to major highways

and what you're told is the "shortest route" isn't always the quickest nor safest option

you might just wind up on a seasonal logging road that hasn't been driven on in months