Letters to the editor | GPS system: Potential safety hazard?

By: Randy Heubel

Posted: 4/15/08

I would like to give a piece of advice to anyone who is tempted into buying a GPS system sometime this year.

It's a great piece of equipment and is essentially a mobile MapQuest or (even better) Google Maps for your car. However, if you plan on using one, be sure to completely erase its presence from your car once you are done driving.

My car was broken into yesterday in the middle of my permit-only parking lot. The passenger side window was shattered, and my GPS was stolen along with my cell phone charger.

The idiot probably thought it was the GPS charger when he took it.

The main point here is my GPS wasn't even in plain view; it was hidden in the glove compartment along with the dock. The circular indent left from the dock being placed on the windshield, along with my visible cell phone charger in the lighter socket, is what caused it to be robbed.

If you use a GPS, don't leave your car open to potential robbery by showing signs your car has a GPS in it...take it out every time!

Randy Heubel

Senior aerospace engineering major