Common sense and GPS?

dodge man · Dec 2, 2020

I live on a rural township road and a couple of weeks ago a semi truck hauling a load got stuck trying to make a corner that was to tight. Last night I learned the guy was following his gps and he was about the third guy to do it in the last few years. This road woukd probably be the shortest route to Springfield Illinois but obviously not the best. I was making fun of the guy with my wife when she reminded me I had done it recently. I turned down a dead end road the gps told me to take. Everyone in the car said it didn稚 look right but I followed the directions anyway. Difference was I was in a car and easily turned around.

My question is what kind of app do truckers use? Is there one that works better for them that keeps them on main roads? I realized there has been more than one time gps has given me a bum steer to.

slckeys · Dec 2, 2020

There are trucker GPS units which can account for vehicle height so you don't find yourself at a low bridge. Some try to get away with simply using their phone GPS which is how drivers get themselves into those situations...

MossRoad · Dec 2, 2020

dodge man said:
I live on a rural township road and a couple of weeks ago a semi truck hauling a load got stuck trying to make a corner that was to tight. Last night I learned the guy was following his gps and he was about the third guy to do it in the last few years. This road woukd probably be the shortest route to Springfield Illinois but obviously not the best. I was making fun of the guy with my wife when she reminded me I had done it recently. I turned down a dead end road the gps told me to take. Everyone in the car said it didnç¨š look right but I followed the directions anyway. Difference was I was in a car and easily turned around.

My question is what kind of app do truckers use? Is there one that works better for them that keeps them on main roads? I realized there has been more than one time gps has given me a bum steer to.

Years ago before consumer GPS, we printed out directions to Mammoth Cave from this new site called Map Quest. :laughing:

I followed it and eventually got the feeling it was incorrect, but decided to follow it just in case it was correct, and, more as a sense of curiosity as to where it would take us.

When the road narrowed to a 1 lane gravel trail that went THROUGH a farmer's barn, I'd had enough curiosity and got out of there before I got shot for trespassing in rural Kentucky. :laughing:

oosik · Dec 2, 2020

Years ago we followed our hand held gps on a trip from Spokane, WA to Omaha, NE. All went well until we were about 100 miles from Omaha. We religiously followed the gps and ended up out in the middle of a corn field. It was a county road that had been abandoned years previously.

MossRoad · Dec 2, 2020

oosik said:
Years ago we followed our hand held gps on a trip from Spokane, WA to Omaha, NE. All went well until we were about 100 miles from Omaha. We religiously followed the gps and ended up out in the middle of a corn field. It was a county road that had been abandoned years previously.

Nice! :laughing:

Farmer495 · Dec 2, 2020

I was in a vehicle years ago and the guy had just got a new GPS unit, most of the trip went good until GPS plotted a previously untraveled route and the GPS announced to turn left at an upcoming intersection.....but the driver just heard "turn left" and turned immediately and drove off the road into a clump of bushes and upset the vehicle in the ditch. Never drove with him again.

Jstpssng · Dec 2, 2020

I was in the back seat on the way to a meeting with a client, in an area I was somewhat familiar with. The phone app said to turn right so we did... then take another right which I knew was actually wrong so I dug out my "Maine Atlas" map book. It took a few minutes to convince them that while the planned road was indeed shorter, there was no way we were going to drive down it; rather, we had to backtrack, get on the tar road and kick it into gear if we were going to get there on time. It added about 50 miles to our route but I wasn't in a mood to drag the truck 10 miles.

RandyT · Dec 2, 2020

Won a GPS in a raffle years ago, and didn't really use it other than just as a novelty. Anyway, was coming home from a trip and decided to let the GPS guide me home, knowing all the roads in the area just for fun. Anyway I was following the directions and came to a corner and the GPS said to turn right and then make an immediate left. Well the road curved to the right and the left would of been a road 60 years ago but had been closed and abandoned and was now part of a cemetery.

My favorite was when it would tell you to make a left in 200 feet and then immediately say recalculating route. The road that it originally suggested was a dead end but had been a complete through road years ago.

two_bit_score · Dec 2, 2020

I have a pretty good sense of direction but anyone can get in an area which they are unfamiliar. I have found GPS to be most useful in identifying for me my exact location so I can find my way from there. Map bppks still have value.

.

hosspuller · Dec 3, 2020

Phone GPS have a limitation ... Only work when you get data service. No service and the phone map is dead. Still carry the Garmin unit with updated maps. Phone is good for route conditions.

Best GPS use is for the warning of turns or street names before you pass them.:laughing: