So Google Maps emptied a highway and blocked Alto Adige

The navigator invented an interruption that wasn't there, and the lemmings effect did the rest: secondary roads blocked all the way to Austria

ROME – It’s the lemmings effect. The navigator tells you where to go and you go. If everyone has the same navigator, everyone follows the same directions. The fastest way? The shortest? Nowadays, motorists rely on blind trust in Google Maps and its little brothers. This is how on Thursday, at the Vipiteno exit of the Brenner motorway and on the secondary roads of Alto Adige towards Austria, everything came to a standstill. Queues from 11 in the morning until evening. This is precisely the fault of Google Maps. The navigator reported an interruption that wasn’t there: exit at Vipiteno, please. No sooner said than done. All together stuck in secondary traffic, with the highway deserted. Oops….

Work is actually underway in some tunnels on the A22, but the carriageways are not closed as the application indicated. The cars, like a string of ants, all took the indicated detour: Vipiteno exit, and state roads. An unprecedented queue between the small towns in the area up to the border with Austria.

Man had to resolve with the human factor: light signals on the motorway and personnel to warn motorists. Trust me, you can continue on the highway. Some didn’t believe it: Google Maps is never wrong, right?