Don't Use A Non Commercial GPS When Driving a Commercial Vehicle!

Sometimes trucking gps will give you a 40 mile detour because of the ghost bridge that it thinks is somewhere en route or because it thought there is a truck restriction even though it’s a “no truck u-turn” only or something similar. Both are helpful if you can use them and compare again each other.

 

Now you tell me

 

even though i got off the road, and became local, then dedicated, i never used a GPS. i relied on a good old fashion Rand Mc Nally truckers road atlas.

only when i got my last job, did i have a GPS for downtown Boston, then i took a "test drive" in my 4 wheeler, to follow that routed plan. but, even the truckers GPS (a Rand by the way), wanted me to go down a very narrow horse and buggy street....like WTF.....a truckers GPS......whaaaa...?????

good thig i took my 4 wheeler, found the correct way, then actually threw out my Rand........LITERALLY threw it out the window, but near my house, not in downtown Boston....

now i have a Garmin, but it is for 4 wheelers, and i am retired. for when i leave the state for vacation trips. so now, if i go down the wrong road?

i can make easier U-turns, or back up, or see the ocean, before i drive into it.....

otherwise, truckers buying the wrong GPS, to me, are just too lazy to learn how to read an atlas, specific for truckers.

 

Still don’t have a GPS. no need for one.
I sometimes use the google maps satellite view to see where the fuel tanks are at some airports I haven’t been to. Or use it to see if a hotel has truck parking.
Drove for 30 years with nothing but a map, notepad and phone numbers. Seemed to always get to where I needed to.

 

That happens more than you think.

 

If you're a dumba** it might. Joogle Maps doesn't start the turn by turn navigating until you push the big red start button, so before that there is plenty of time to review the whole highlighted route especially near your final approach. If it's trying to send you down some questionable route to get to your driveway, zoom out and study the bigger picture. Often it will bypass a major street or through route trying to save 100 feet of travel distance, which IMO is stupid programming no matter what you're driving...computers are only as "smart" as the doofuses who program them. Stay on the primary routes all the way to your address if you can.

 

Google maps has never let me down. Then again it’s not the one holding the wheel and shifting the gears.

 

All GPSs will fail at some point in a single trip.

I bought and used two RM GPSs for years when I first started driving. No telling how many times I had to ignore the route as presented by RM to shave up to an hour off my travel time.

In these last few years, I've run only Google maps. I still have ignore parts of the route it will present, however, I can be sure that the route presented considers traffic and whatever settings I input- whether to avoid tolls, take the quickest or shortest route, etc.

Many drivers aren't running the whole country with different locations every trip. Many drivers are dedicated or make the same runs most of the time. This obviates the need for forking out the $500+ for the new-fangled contraptions that "Truck GPS" makers want us paying every couple of years.

As always, keep your head on a swivel and know when to follow directions, from GPSs, dispatchers, brokers, shipping/receiving workers, etc. AND when not to follow them.

 

Mustang190 hit the nail on the head!!

Us older guys and gals only had and address, phone number and appointment time. I guess we just can't relate with why the new drivers need all these expensive gadgets to figure out where the're going. Your truckers atlas will still usually get you within a few miles of the customers door, now instead of calling I take a look at google maps when I plan my trip for the final mile or two. On the occasion I still have a question on the route I call just like we use to.

Do they even train new drivers on how to use an Atlas anymore?