GPS Dependancy Is Bad

Interstate driver ends up stuck on North Carolina beach.

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"It's not my fault, it was the GPS."

Probably a newbie but in any case if you rely on a GPS and do not realize you are out of road why continue onto the beach? $2000 tow bill and looking for a new job. Way to go.

There's a telephone poll near my companies warehouse, that suffers a terrible fate half dozen times a year because the GPS brings guys that way. Even though it's a well posted residential road they ignore the signs and end up taking the poll with them. Sounds advice. Don't rely solely on the GPS.

This could have been much worse had the GPS told him to go straight instead of a hang a left at the sand dune.

Gives all of us a bad name. What an embarrassment.

There have been a few places I've delivered now where, without a GPS, I would have just been screwed. I cant possibly pack a folded map for every out-of-the-way location we deliver to across this nation. And when you can't even find the next 3 largest towns on your atlas, forget about finding the specific road this or that warehouse happens to be on.

With that said, when I see stories about people driving down the boardwalk or bajaing across a beach... Why does the GPS always get the blame? Sure, those things can be nuts (coming out of Fort something-or-another, Iowa last week, the damn thing thought I was driving through a huge corn field and kept telling me to proceed to the highlighted route!)

But the GPS gets the blame... Yet something tells me these same people proly couldn't be trusted to find the ocean if they were floating in the middle of it.

GPS is a tool. Blaming the GPS is like saying spoons make people fat. The fact that this industry (somehow) doesn't always employ the most intelligent or resourceful people somehow gets overlooked in stories like this.

I don't know... Not trying to be a troll about this. But GPS sure gets bashed alot and so far (when combined with awareness and some common sense) I've found it to be an awesome tool (most of the time.)

I've also got a Rand McNally CMV atlas I use for planning long trips. But it doesn't always have some of these smaller locales listed (they just dont have the space or it would be a 48 volume set instead of one giant book.)

Trucker GPS, Rand McNally CMV Atlas, and Google Satellite View... Now that's a tool box! 👍

There have been a few places I've delivered now where, without a GPS, I would have just been screwed. I cant possibly pack a folded map for every out-of-the-way location we deliver to across this nation. And when you can't even find the next 3 largest towns on your atlas, forget about finding the specific road this or that warehouse happens to be on.

With that said, when I see stories about people driving down the boardwalk or bajaing across a beach... Why does the GPS always get the blame? Sure, those things can be nuts (coming out of Fort something-or-another, Iowa last week, the damn thing thought I was driving through a huge corn field and kept telling me to proceed to the highlighted route!)

But the GPS gets the blame... Yet something tells me these same people proly couldn't be trusted to find the ocean if they were floating in the middle of it.

GPS is a tool. Blaming the GPS is like saying spoons make people fat. The fact that this industry (somehow) doesn't always employ the most intelligent or resourceful people somehow gets overlooked in stories like this.

I don't know... Not trying to be a troll about this. But GPS sure gets bashed alot and so far (when combined with awareness and some common sense) I've found it to be an awesome tool (most of the time.)

I've also got a Rand McNally CMV atlas I use for planning long trips. But it doesn't always have some of these smaller locales listed (they just dont have the space or it would be a 48 volume set instead of one giant book.)

Trucker GPS, Rand McNally CMV Atlas, and Google Satellite View... Now that's a tool box! 👍

I once had very similar thoughts, and then I learned the hard way. I am willing to bet we all have. Just give it time, and you will join the GPS DOH! Ranks. Only, hopefully not as bad a Dune driving, and boardwalk escapades.

GPS is indeed an awesome tool but sometimes people overlook the simple, obvious things. Probably the most important tool when it comes to getting somewhere is calling the customer and getting directions from them. Even this isn't perfect, but it's something you should do if the route getting there isn't completely obvious or you're in a highly congested area.

The customer will know the in's and out's of the route getting there. They'll know about construction, low bridges, and restricted routes.

I used three main sources of information - Google Maps, GPS, and call the customer. I would look at the GPS route and Google Maps before calling the customer to verify what route I should be taking. If what they were telling me didn't match up to the other routes or didn't make sense I would ask them to clarify.

Sometimes you'll get someone on the phone who really isn't sure whether or not the route is ok for commercial vehicles. It just happens to be their route to work. Make sure you verify this with the person you're speaking with.

"Are you certain this route is ok for tractor trailers to use? I can get in huge trouble if it's not."

If they don't know for sure they can normally put someone on the phone who is.

Fortunately the trucking crowd is an older crowd so I don't have to explain what pen and paper are!

The GPS is definitely a valuable tool. However I maintain having an analog backup (hand written directions) is essential. In remote areas it can be difficult to hold a signal and these things do fail. It’s technology, thus imperfect.

The event that occurred to me supporting my point occurred early in my Walmart Dedicated driving from Saddle Brook NJ to Garfield NJ. This is in the heart of congested North Jersey. The Qualcomm went into a wait state while a software upgrade was being downloaded. Pouring rain, at midnight I had no directions...in an area (at least then) I was unfamiliar with. I had no choice but to find a safe place to pull off the road, hit the fourways and wait for the QC to boot-up. 30 minutes later, I was able to reset the GPS and continue.

Point is, had I written down the basic instructions before departing Saddle Brook, I could have avoided the stress and wasted time the situation caused. At least with our (Swift) system, Navigo (integrated with the QC) has a look ahead feature that can be used to review the directions in advance of the real-time display and jot them down on a yellow sticky-note.

The other point is, until you become more familiar with the major interstates, the topology (like mountains), I believe it’s beneficial to trace your route using the Atlas. It’s the only easy way to get an overall visual of the route, where it will take you and any important features such as a hairpin curve at the base of a hill. Google Maps satellite view is a great way to get an overhead and street view of the destination or a closer look at any problem area.

I am a proponent of leveraging all the available tools for trip planning and “in-the-moment” navigation. And always having a working backup enabling a smooth and stress free continuation of the trip.

GPS is a tool that might be a big help but I never have used one in the big truck or in the pick up with the 5th wheel. I started driving back in 1969 and who knew we would be using satellite navigation today. And to make it worse it is not always correct. I learned to read an atlas early on and it gets you pretty close to a general area that you are going. I always would call a customer for exact locations and directions, then write them down on an index card with customer name, address and phone numbers and put it in an index file box for future reference. It also came in handy for helping out other drivers going to the same delivery. That's just me and my system.