After a fun, albeit probably chaotic weekend in Las Vegas for Formula 1 weekend, traffic on the 15 was at a standstill. Normal Sunday traffic was even worse after a dust storm hit the 15, leaving drivers at a stand still.
For this group of friends, Google Maps seemingly answered their prayes with an alert for a shortcut. Shelby Easler, her brother, and their partners were making their way back to California from Vegas when Google Maps alerted them to a shortcut to avoid the dust storm that was causing hours-long standstill traffic. The shortcut promised to save them 50 minutes, she told SF Gate, and so that’s what she decided to do. The results were a story to remember.
In her now widely circulated Tik Tok, the route took them off-roading through the Mojave Desert, with a trail of cars following them in a sort of blind-leading-the-blind sort of situation. After a few hours stuck in the middle of nowhere with no way to turn around, they tried to call 911 but were told Califoria Highway Patrol was dealing with the freeway shut down caused by the dust storm. So, they called a tow truck to pull them out, which finally arrived after the sun went down. According to Easler, one of her tires was coming off and the alignment of the car was messed up.
Anywhere that the video was posted, the comments were flooded with people offering their opinion. Some referenced an iconic scene in The Office where GPS sent Michael Scott into a body of water, others lamented the fact that people can’t read maps anymore, and others confirmed that Google Maps had done the same to them before.
Whatever your opinion is, the event makes for an amusing story. In the future, Easler, who had never driven the route from LA to Vegas and couldn’t have predicted the outcome, said she’d be more cautious and avoid any sketchy routes.