What MapQuest and G.P.S. Don’t Tell You Can Get You Lost

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/automobiles/04ROAD.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

GETTING driving directions is an easy process these days with computer software, mapping Web sites and G.P.S. systems. They will indeed get you from Point A to Point B, but they often do it in standard English, bland as a news anchor’s accent. Whether you’re headed for a Brooklyn brownstone or an Indiana office park, the route will be described as a series of intersections and turns.

For the vernacular version, inquire at a gas station. In New Jersey, you could be told to pass a jughandle. In Detroit, you could be advised to take a Michigan left. Texans could tell you to splash through a ford or take a frontage road. People in Kirkland, Wash., will warn you to watch for a pedestrian flag crossing; the city actually provides orange flags to carry in crosswalks to help drivers see walkers.

“We’re familiar with jughandles and Michigan lefts, but a lot of people aren’t,” said Christian Dwyer, director of operations for MapQuest. Regionalisms “would not be part of the MapQuest narrative.”

But they remain part of the drive in many places in the country. While these regionalisms can make directions confusing, drivers coming upon these turns and loops can become frustrated and disoriented. It may not be hard to understand what’s going on when a pedestrian waves a flag in a crosswalk, but a first encounter with a Michigan left or a jughandle can be daunting.

So some advanced knowledge would be helpful. For the perplexed, here is a field guide.

he is forced to break the law because he is too stupid to figure out a Michigan left?