Packing List for Students

Maybe it's just me but I don't get the big deal of the GPS. I don't like the idea of something giving me directions while driving. Maybe it's because I'm a new driver but I like to see my route and plan it well so I know where I'm going without needing a device to tell me when to turn.

I plan my trips using the atlas, google earth and Delorme Street Atlas. I also try to find another driver, or two, from the company that has been to the place before me and will call the shipper/receiver for directions if possible. I will then write it all down on paper, making note of the exit before mine as well as whether it's a right or left lane exit.

My first solo trip I missed a couple of turns, causing me to find a safe place to stop and plan from there. Since then I've been very anal of knowing exactly where I'm going. No stress, no last minute lane changes needed. I guess I just don't trust something I can't see ahead of time on paper or the pc screen. Google Earth is great for getting an actual view of the exits though Delorme or Streets and Trips will give you the same info, the visual is just not the same.

 

I seen more old timers behind the wheel make more mistakes then me , trying too find a address getting lost missing turns, driving too fast riding bumpers of 4 wheelers on the freeway trying too intimidate them too pull over, blowing there horn when not needed.

 

i notice this with the older drivers they don't like being told what too do there very independent, its like a wife telling them there lost and they won't admit it, most gps units have women voices and its a macho thing men have. they don't like asking directions.

see it in your words you dont like women telling you too make a turn etc.

i dont need notes too look down at and loose my site of view on the road, its right in the dash on a screen with the streets name and exit number on it.

but GPS is just a screen like google earth ?

 

more engaged paper, as in, it isn't safe to drive and stare at the map so instead I read the map in the morning.

I pay attention while reading and commit the directions to memory. Now I know where I'm going and don't worry about it.

GPS, I would stick pin my route without thinking about it. Kinda know where I'm going but not be thinking to much... quick glances over, "oh the next turn is a long ways off" "getting closer" "getting real close" "whats the name of that street again?" GLANCE GLANCE GLANCE !!!!

Only took a week of that to figure out it wasn't nearly as good as just remembering where I was going and how to get there.

or like Rob my trainer told me... "Your driving all day long, what else you got to do but think about where you're going?" "After a couple of weeks of memorizing directions, you get used to doing it and you don't have to slave over it, just read it once and you've got it."

DIRECTIONS OVER THE C.B.

Call the customer, they won't lie to you, they actually want you to show up with the stuff they ordered.

 

now how many times i called customers up and they put me on hold or
it was busy for 20 minutes or more and most times i get a secretary who has a hard time getting too work each day, trying too explain too me turn right at a walmart
turn left at the little shoe shop ..

 

dunno? but I can tell you my gps told me to get off on 47th street in chicago and there was a bulldozer parked where the off ramp used to be.

so I went to 51st, got off and took a left to state street, then went down to 35th to cross back over the freeway and make my way to my drop.

the 47th street bridge was too low for trucks. GPS didn't know that and I'm real glad I wasn't the next idiot to prove it.

Also real glad it was 4a.m. and no traffic around so I had time to get fixed...

This was the episode that swore me off of gps units as a navigator. Now I look at the map real careful and have alternate routing planned incase of uh-ohhs...

I suppose that it is a matter of each to their own. Just, for me, I feel that experience teaches us to be prepared and if you are following a gps as your main source of navigation, then you aren't gaining any experience in navigation, just experience in how to follow a gps system's directions.

Possibly a driver could get along with this for a long time but...???

If you have an uh-ohhh... try telling the cops, court, or company it's not your fault... the gps told you to...

lol... ok... rant off...

each to his own, what I do works for me and we're all different...

 

Maybe I should clarify a little. Sure, the GPS has a a screen but any I have seen are tiny and don't give much of an overview. What I like about Google Earth is the satellite view, could be wrong but I don't think you get that on a gps and even if you do I'd much rather see it on my 17" screen while not moving. As for looking down at notes there's no need to. It doesn't take much to remember the next few turns. If I need to I can pick up the piece of paper and glance at it when I'm stopped at a light or not in traffic. Less distracting than looking at a little gps screen I would think. I have nothing against the gps, I know lots that swear by it, it's just not for me.

 

Just to throw in - there are trucker GPS units with large screens. Not 17 inches, of course, more like.. 7 or 9, as I recall. A heck of a lot better than that asinine 2.5 inch crap

I have nothing intrinsically against GPS - or any other technology. I am a geek, after all. I intend to get one, in fact ($600 for the big screen - just in case my bifocals melt). But I'm still gonna plan my trip the way I've been doing it all my life - grab a map and memorize the stops and turns.

 

The company I just went through orientation with told us not to trust their on-board GPS units 100%. When they give you a load via satellite they give written directions, including the route you have to take your fuel stops, and the GPS unit will also "guide" you. But the GPSs can be wrong. One driver turned right, because his GPS told him to, when the written directions told him to turn left, and he wound up in a "preventable accident" because he trusted the GPS.

They want us to follow their directions and double check them against the motor carriers atlas and contact the dispatcher if there are problems.