Do new drivers use gps? Truck driver stuck on the highway ramp

.... Covered in snow, and full of irate motorists.

 

These days I rarely consult my paper atlas. I use my Rand McNally GPS and compare the route options to Google Maps options. I might put turn by turn options as "via" points in the GPS and/or Google Maps to force my preferred route. If I am going somewhere unfamiliar I also use Satellite View and Street View.

I also consult MyRadar for current and expected weather for trip planning and keep updated on the fly. Truckers Path let's me know availability of parking when it comes time to shut it down for the day. Since I buy my own fuel I use Fuel Book to find the least expensive options on my route.

Often I will route around difficult intersections. Take three left turns instead of that impossible right turn. Avoid certain freeway on ramps or interchanges. Bypass construction zone. Google Maps also gives updated traffic status.

 

Sounds like that driver didn't make the turn wide enough.Today's drivers solely depend on the GPS and not look at there surroundings.If that ramp is narrow as it sounds I wouldn't have attempted it.I always called the customer for directions.

 

Calling the customer for directions sounds good but how many calls do they get a day asking the same question and how motivated is the person at the desk to give proper directions? I would think they are just as motivated as the dock workers loading and unloading the trucks. They do the bare minimum enough to not get fired lol.

For me I'll use the atlas for the bulk of the directions and then Google map the city I'm picking up or dropping off. The atlas has the blowup of the city but I'll use Google to view an Ariel shot of the location.

 

Atlas is good and the only way to plan routes.Calling the customer I think most would give you directions only way to find out is call them.I always called in case I had to take a detour due to construction.Then other customers you have to take a different way then cars.

 

The atlas is reliable, but it only shows street-level detail in maybe 100 cities. Everywhere else you are relying on the info you get from other sources. I started trucking just as the early GPS, and pre-GPS, equipment was beginning to be used by pilots. The first lesson EVERYONE learns the hard way is the GPS isn't 100% correct. GPS doesn't force you to have the "big picture" in your mind. It's easy and common to turn your brain off and follow the GPS as it's telling you to turn left into Lake Michigan. My RM740 GPS has the paper atlas stored in it. I can see every page of the paper Atlas and zoom in to any details I could see on paper.

When using the GPS you need to generally have in mind what direction you are traveling to get to the customer, and which directions get you toward a safe area and which you want to avoid unless you are 100% sure. This industry is chasing drivers away with short-term thinking, which causes them to hire more drivers with no experience to be trained by drivers with ALMOST no experience, and everybody depends on being able to use the shortcuts that only the laziest drivers used to use. Drivers have to find the 85% of the knowledge and skills their trainer didn't have time to show them, but then most people aren't interested in improving, just doing less for more. IMO.

 

I got one of these as a present from my son in law.
It's a Truck GPS.
I like the size of the screen.
But..... It can be the stupidest piece of electronics I ever saw.
Put in an address - "go to 1234 dirt street;" it says "not in list of available options."
OK; so I then go by zip code, get to address number - same error??
So I click on list of available options - and it goes from maybe 1 to 99 - then 200 350 dirt street; what??
Give up and just put in 1 dirt street and wing it from there.

Another thing it does is holds my location at home; then I'm 60 miles away in a maze of a development that God couldn't find his way out of, and turn it on to find my way out and, of course, "Go to Home."
Easy, right?
Not on this brilliant gem of an Engineering Marvel.
It now says to me "You have arrived at Yada - Yada." What???
Have to reset and turn it off and on several times to acquire the satellites.
I just laugh at it. Around 250-300 bucks worth of entertainment value.
It's quirky - but overall I like it. Booms out move commands real loud for my shippy hearing.

(By the way, never put your exact Home location in, use the gas station, or etc, in case it's stolen.)

 

If the city is not blown up in the atlas can you just Google a city then verify with the atlas for restricted routes low clearances etc?