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GPS Mess: 18-Wheelers Crashing Into Staten Island Neighborhood

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Eighteen-wheelers are making a mess of a Staten Island neighborhood -- and it's all because of GPS, residents say.

As CBS 2's Dave Carlin reported, on July 10, a tractor-trailer took out most of the rock wall fronting Anthony Perlongo's Emerson Hill home. It also bent a no-parking sign and ruined Perlongo's sprinkler system.

"It was like an explosion when this thing hit the wall," Perlongo said.

Then on Tuesday, another truck crunched a guard rail just a few houses down.

One of the rig's wheels were left hanging over the edge of a hill, and the 18-wheeler was in danger of sliding down and into Joseph Palumbo's house. It had to be towed down the hill in pieces.

Palumbo said truck drivers blame their global positioning systems for taking them off the Staten Island Expressway at Clove Road, then up onto ultra-narrow and winding Douglas Road.

"GPS tells them to make a right, and they make the right," Palumbo said. "That's what they keep telling us: 'The GPS directed me up here.'"

City Councilman Steven Matteo, R-Staten Island, said the city's Department of Transportation should install many more "No Thru Traffic" and "No Trucks" signs in the area -- but with weight limits on them and flashing lights.

"We have to solve this," Matteo said.

He also wants the GPS glitches gone. But that is a little tricky. Each and every GPS manufacturer would need to be contacted to create the necessary software updates telling drivers to steer away from the big-rig mayhem for good.

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