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British family killed in Florida after GPS error caused crash

Wednesday, 4 April 20183 min read

Four members of a family from the UK were killed in a car crash during a Florida vacation when the satnav in their rented vehicle told them to do an illegal U-turn.

Adam Stephenson, 30, who was driving the family back from the Kennedy Space Center, turned the Mitsubishi sedan into the path of an oncoming Ford pickup truck, said police.

He died at the scene along with his wife Maryanne Stephenson, 29 and his parents Brian Stephenson, 66, and Sheralyn Stephenson, 56.

The satnav in the vehicle had instructed him to do an illegal U-turn at a junction to avoid another crash that had happened earlier, added police.

Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson, of Titusville Police Department said: "The GPS had indicated for them to make a U-turn at that intersection which was an illegal U-turn unfortunately and violated the right of way of the pick-up truck."

The driver of the Ford pick-up truck was taken to hospital with ‘non life-threatening injuries’.

The family is thought to have visited the Kennedy Space Center to see the launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket, the Falcon 9, which blasted off on Monday.