Are these good tools to have? How do they help or hinder a driver?

 

There has been much discussion of these items.... some good, some not so good. Here are my views:

I have a laptop with MS Streets & Trips..same as tourists use, as well as PC Miler...which is "truck specific". I use both of them for routing. Each will generate a route that I can use...except that the MS S&T routes can sometimes require a little research. (I've been at this game for a while, so its not that often I have to run a route on the laptop...) The research would involve details like "truck restricted routes", "low clearances", and hazmat restrictions if my load is placarded. I get that information from the Motor Carriers Atlas.

The PC Miler program, being truck specific can be programmed to follow only certain types of routes, such as STAA only...which pretty much guarantees a safe and legal route.

I have never used a GPS for truck navigation. I'm "old-fashioned" in that I consider a GPS in a truck as a "distraction"....so if I am not familiar with the area...I will write the route down.

My gut feeling is that if you are new to this it would be in your best interest to learn it the "old fashioned" way, get to know the roads, then maybe later add the technology.

I have seen pictures of trucks where the driver was relying on and paying too much attention to a GPS....and drove under a bridge that was lower than the top of the trailer.... resulting in a really lousy end to a day.

I have given thought to buying one....but can't seem to motivate myself to do so. I guess I just haven't been able to justify the expense.

I am quite familiar with GPS's....as I am a bluewater sailor/boater. I own marine GPS's...and use them quite a bit, however....I am always mindful that when a GPS is turned on...the first thing it says is: This is an aid, not the gospel.....

Its a "caveat emptor" situation... 8)

 

I never ran GPS. It was not until the last year I drove that I broke down and bought a laptop and installed MS Streets and Trips, which I rarely used and then when I did use it, it was usually only for a quick routing "advice" which I always doubled check against info in the MC Atlas.

Twice in a year I used it to find a customer, once it was dead on the second time it was off but it got me into the right area and I was fortunate enough to be able to see the facility.

My views on GPS are pretty much the same as Skywalker's. Also like Skywalker I too have seen plenty of stories where GPS, even when used in conjunction with a truck routing program, have led drivers under a low bridge or down a restricted road.

IMHO you would be better off with a laptop and basic routing program, a MC atlas, and a cell phone with enough anytime minutes that you can use to call customers if need be to get directions.

 

I use MS Streets and trip. I like it because once you put a route in you can alter the route and see the mileage difference on each route that is available. I move the route around and choose the best one for me. Then, if there might be a issue with restricted routes and low bridges I just cross reference my chosen route with my motor carriers road atlas. 8) 8)

 

I, too, think new drivers should avoid every advantage there is out there, including these new fangled Motor Carrier Atlases. After all, Lewis and Clark made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean using West as a vague direction and maybe some lines sketched in the dirt. Are you no less of a man than they? Resign yourself to mediocrity. Why be efficient and make money, I think most of us have too much money anyway. In fact why don't we go back to the horse teams and wagons. Let's do it the old fashion way. At least, until the backpackers start calling us wusses

 

your right, we need more stuff to make our jobs easier, than we will get paid less,, train more drivers add new gadgets and help our CEO's make billions...

 

I don't know about you, but I get paid more because of technology and my willingness to use it. I don't see any problem helping my employer make more money. The more money he has the more jobs he creates, the better off everyone is. I know it is a tired cliche, but only rich people create jobs, not poor people.

 

The real issue is not the use of technology but rather the reliance on it.

With the surge of use of routing software and now GPS I wonder how many relatively new drivers out there could not figure out how to cross the street if there technological advantages were to take a dump.

It just is not in trucking that the total reliance on technology has negative implications. In general life it does to.

100 years ago what percentage of the population knew how to grow a successful garden and then be able to preserve that food for use through out the year? Flash forward to today and what percentage are able to do the same?

While I do not have exact figures it would not surprise me if it was less than 15% today of what it was a century ago.

 

I have no doubt 99.99% percent of new drivers could make the transition. Why would anyone restrict themselves to lines drawn in the dirt when there are satellites flying overhead?

Speaking as a new driver, only eight months in my truck, you all should use GPS. I said use not rely upon it 100% To do any less is just handicapping yourself needlessly.

 

If you do not ever learn how to quickly and accurately route a trip using a map then you are relying on modern technology.