Recently a truck (lorry) driver followed computerized directions in order to deliver the contents of his eighteen wheeler to the town of Moorefield, West Virginia. The program had, indeed, plotted the shortest route. Unfortunately for the trucker, the route put him onto a narrow mountain road. After he had gone less than a mile, he found he had passed the only spot for the next fifteen miles where he might have been able to turn around and go back to the main road. He had no choice but to continue.

As he made his way up and over the mountain, the truck scraped guard rails and tore the bark from some of the trees that lined the road. The driver braved tight turns and switch-backs that would challenge the driving skills of a driver of an automoblile. The trucker later described turns that were so steep that he had to let air out of his tires in order to keep from tipping.

I, myself, have driven the route many times in much smaller vehicles. The trip over the mountain usually takes only a half an hour. It took the trucker three nerve-racking hours!