Death by GPS: are satnavs changing our brains?

We increasingly rely on GPS to get from A to B. But what happens if we're led catastrophically astray - and are we losing our sense of direction?

One early morning in March 2011, Albert Chretien and his wife, Rita, loaded their Chevrolet Astro van and drove away from their home in Penticton, British Columbia. Their destination was Las Vegas, where Albert planned to attend a trade show. Rather than stick to the most direct route, they decided to take a scenic road less travelled, Idaho State Highway 51. The Chretiens figured there had to be a turnoff from Idaho 51 that would lead them east to US Route 93 all the way to Vegas.

Albert and Rita had known each other since high school. During their 38 years of marriage, they had rarely been apart. They worked together, managing their own small excavation business. A few days before the trip, Albert had purchased a Magellan GPS unit for the van. They had not yet used it, but their plan wasn't panning out. As the day went on and the shadows grew longer, they hadn't found an eastward passage. They decided to consult the GPS. Checking their roadmap, they determined the nearest town was Mountain City, Nevada, so they entered it as the destination into their GPS unit. The directions led them on to a small dirt road near an Idaho ghost town and eventually to a confusing three-way crossroads. And here their troubles began.