PHETCHABUN: Tourists visiting Phu Thap Boek need to pay more attention to their physical surroundings instead of their GPS screens if they want to avoid having accidents and getting lost, say police.
The caution came after officers on Saturday rescued three tourists after their car rolled down a mountain slope while travelling along the Thap Boek-Ban Muang Baeng route in tambon Wang Ban.
The tourists were on their way back home after visiting the scenic mountain. After consulting GPS applications on their mobile phones to check directions, they decided to travel along the route as it appeared to be shorter than others, said Pol Lt Yutthana Pongsai, a duty officer at the Phu Thap Boek police post in Lom Kao district.
The driver followed the GPS directions but developed brake problems on the steeply sloping terrain. He was unable to control the vehicle and the car rolled down the slope, said the officer. Luckily, nobody was injured.
Pol Lt Yutthana said there were frequent cases of tourists getting lost when travelling along the route to and from Phu Thap Boek as they relied too much on GPS navigation systems.
He warned tourists to study the actual routes and check the condition of their vehicles and the roads before driving to the mountainous tourist site.
He also called on those who input data on routes into GPS system to correct errors or remove the sloping route, where frequent accidents occur.
Phu Thap Boek continues to attract hordes of tourists on weekends, despite a major crackdown by authorities on resorts built illegally in recent years to take advantage of tourism boom.
