GPS Fail

[other dog]

Tim, the man who unloads trucks at N.B.Handy in Lynchburg, said they lost a coil last week when a truck coming in got stuck in a ditch. He followed the directions from his GPS which sent him across Mayflower Drive from Campbell Avenue. After you pass the fertilizer plant it's very narrow and crooked through there- you can make it in a truck, but it's tight. Where he screwed up was when he tried to turn left on a little side street that cuts across to Oddfellows road instead of just following Mayflower Drive to Oddfellows, where it would have been an easy left turn. But no, the GPS said "turn here,turn here-now!"

I've cut across that street before myself- bobtailing. He should have seen that he couldn't make the turn, but he attempted it anyway and got the trailer in the ditch all twisted up. He never lost the 2 coils he had on though, they were still safe and secure. They had to call a wrecker to get him out though, and somehow they managed to drop one of the coils on the ground- one of the wrecker crew guys wanted to pick the back of the trailer up and set it back in the road, but the other guy didn't like that plan, so they went with his plan,whatever that was, and dropped the coil.

Now the wrecker company and the trucking company are at odds over who's responsible for ruining the coil. The trucking co. says the coil was fine until the wrecker crew monkeyed it up,which is true, and the wrecker co. says it's the truck drivers fault for getting hung up in the first place, which is also true...but- they could have done the job without losing the coil if they'd went with plan A, or they could have unloaded the coil, set it aside, got the trailer out of the bind, then set the coil back on the trailer. They weren't half a mile from Handy when all this took place.

He followed the street with the red dots, and was turning at the red lines. He was trying to get to the red circle and should have went up to the green lines.

We always follow the green line to N.B.Handy- Candlers Mountain Road off of 460, rt. on Mayflower, rt. on Bradley Drive. He was following the red line. If you don't know you don't know, but you can call, or ask on the radio, but you should never rely on just that GPS, it can get you in trouble.

[farmer52]

I think they should sue the "bitch in the box" for telling him to turn.

[Green Dash]

Any truck driver who hasn't been living under a rock for the past few years has had, at least once, either heard a story of a gps nightmare or experienced one first hand. These incidents make the news somewhere on a daily basis but every day another so called professional gets him/herself into a bad situation simply because they don't want to invest in the proper gps program and are just too damn lazy to use a Motor Carrier Atlas or a cell phone. Somehow, relying on blind faith and risking several thousand dollars in equipment, freight and/or property damage is the logical choice for many.

[other dog]

I've heard several drivers at Handy talking about what a rough trip it was from Pittsburgh or Sharon to Lynchburg, an all day job, or something like "never again". When I asked them how they came down, they said "501 from 81, that's how the GPS routed me". That's across the mountains and crooked as a dog's leg, we never go that way. Besides, it's restricted to 65 feet. It's about 7 hours from Pittsburgh to Lynchburg coming down 79,19,39,20,60,64,220,and 460. Probably a little quicker running the turnpike to Breezewood, then 70 and 522 to 81 to 64 to 29, but much more expensive of course.

[Apple dog]

I used to like running down 501 and 130 to Lynchburg and Brookneal when I hauled lumber. I just noticed the second map I delivered a lot of lumber to the old Burruss plant. When going back 130 in the morning there was a good resturant to eat breakfast at.

[mike69mackman]

Very similar problem with drivers going to schreiber foods in shippensburg pa. Drivers using regular gps that takes them onto streets that are restricted and posted as such, one street has a low overpass. Schreiber has sent notices to most co's servicing them but it does no good 2-3 times a day cops are dealing with these guys. Writing big fines now.

[Green Dash]

Very similar problem with drivers going to schreiber foods in shippensburg pa. Drivers using regular gps that takes them onto streets that are restricted and posted as such, one street has a low overpass. Schreiber has sent notices to most co's servicing them but it does no good 2-3 times a day cops are dealing with these guys. Writing big fines now.

I'm sympathetic to a driver that makes a wrong turn and accidently ends up someplace they shouldn't be, Lord knows I've done it a few times, but some of these asshats are trying to relocate 11 ft bridges by cramming a 13'6" trailer under them at 30 mph. And that's after blowing past all the warning signs and flashing lights in broad daylight! I seriously believe there are some clowns out there that would drive off a bridge if a gps told them to.

[hatcity]

[other dog]

I used to like running down 501 and 130 to Lynchburg and Brookneal when I hauled lumber. I just noticed the second map I delivered a lot of lumber to the old Burruss plant. When going back 130 in the morning there was a good resturant to eat breakfast at.

Probably Wildwood? I think that was the name of it - It was on the right going north, before you got to the Blue Ridge Parkway. 130 and 501 was how we went too. Even going to Big Island you went 130 to Snowden and back south on 501 instead of taking 501 out of Lynchburg.

501 looking towards Lynchburg. The road was narrow and the turns were so tight it was hard to keep a trailer on your side of the road. They widened and straightened it some a few years ago, but there's still a length restriction on it.

[Apple dog]

I think you are right OD. It had a big parking lot that set back off the road a little. One night I was going to Lynchburg at about where the Blue Ridge Parkway cross' 130 there was a freight hauler setting in the road. I'm glad nothing was coming the other way.

[vision386]

One of my favorites!.................................Mark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivijpeZw6EQ

[2stacksuperdog]

A couple years ago we had a good size storm that started at 1pm well we were coming back from Hartford at about 5pm and there was Schneider truck stuck in about a 1ft of snow trying to go through an uphill s-curve. The road is a paved cow path well he said his GPS was bringing him to the truck stop even though there isn't one around for miles and the closest one was 3 towns away, needless to say a few hours, payloaders, and wreckers later he finally got dragged out and back to the main road.

[mike69mackman]

I think if some of these guys would invest in a GPS that had truck routing the problems would be less but I'm told that even some of the truck GPS are not very up to date. What happened to the d days of just calling the place?fortunately I go to mostly the same places so I don't worry too much but when they send me somewhere new ill punch it into my phone GPS just to get the distance and time and general routing then call them.

[slpwlker]

I had a similar story last year. But in my defense I had looked at the map,Put it in the GPS and looked to make sure it wasn't a restricted route. No nothing on the truckers atlas.Road started out good then when I turned onto the last road which still had no restriction road got real narrow. This point I was like I can't back out now. Just took my time till I got to the first uturn. made a hard left. ran the truck off the road and trailer up on the side of the mountain. 15 more turns later and a few trucks passing me trailer just about taking a fence out as it started sliding down till I got to the oncoming side to pull it back up.Made a mental note to myself after that. Anytime in West Va unless it is a US route, or interstate. what way I go into the job is the way I come back out. Also if it means 100 more miles on the route

[other dog]

Yeah, i've been on some tight roads in W.V. I don't think they have any restrictions, you'll be on some pig path and think "I probably shouldn't have went this way" and then you'll meet a Burns truck with a load of lumber or a bunch of coal haulers.

[Terry T]

The dropped coil is the responsibility of the towing company. The reason for the tow is the responsibility of the driver, not the GPS. I don't use GPS in my personal vehicles and I wouldn't use one in a truck. I will always call for directions because only a person familiar with the area can tell you about the "rouge" tree limb that the city won't do anything about or that 3 blocks of that one street that are strickly residentual, etc. At least once a week I see a truck someplace he has no business being and I can just about guarantee that the driver is following a GPS unit. A GPS unit will never replace an atlas and good old common sense.

[vision386]

The dropped coil is the responsibility of the towing company. The reason for the tow is the responsibility of the driver, not the GPS. I don't use GPS in my personal vehicles and I wouldn't use one in a truck. I will always call for directions because only a person familiar with the area can tell you about the "rouge" tree limb that the city won't do anything about or that 3 blocks of that one street that are strickly residentual, etc. At least once a week I see a truck someplace he has no business being and I can just about guarantee that the driver is following a GPS unit. A GPS unit will never replace an atlas and good old common sense.

Truer words were never spoken!...................................................Mark

[slpwlker]

The dropped coil is the responsibility of the towing company. The reason for the tow is the responsibility of the driver, not the GPS. I don't use GPS in my personal vehicles and I wouldn't use one in a truck. I will always call for directions because only a person familiar with the area can tell you about the "rouge" tree limb that the city won't do anything about or that 3 blocks of that one street that are strickly residentual, etc. At least once a week I see a truck someplace he has no business being and I can just about guarantee that the driver is following a GPS unit. A GPS unit will never replace an atlas and good old common sense.

Thats not always the case. Most of those phone monkies couldn't lead you to there house let alone truck route into there place. I still call but usually just follow the permit till the very end then fill in the blanks when I get close and the routing stops

[RowdyRebel]

The dropped coil is the responsibility of the towing company. The reason for the tow is the responsibility of the driver, not the GPS. I don't use GPS in my personal vehicles and I wouldn't use one in a truck. I will always call for directions because only a person familiar with the area can tell you about the "rouge" tree limb that the city won't do anything about or that 3 blocks of that one street that are strickly residentual, etc. At least once a week I see a truck someplace he has no business being and I can just about guarantee that the driver is following a GPS unit. A GPS unit will never replace an atlas and good old common sense.

In theory, you would be correct. However, I've received directions from customers acclimated to making the drive in to work in their car....and have NO IDEA what a truck might need to watch out for. Personally, I'll punch in the address into my GPS and take a look at the surrounding area. I might consult a paper map (if I have one detailed enough to show me the area) to get a ggeneral feel for what I might be in for. I've called customers, too, and compared their routing to what I saw for myself. Even after all of that, though, you STILL ned to watch your clearances and road edges.

As for the damaged coil, the towing company is responsible...just like they would be if they failed to remove your driveshaft during a tow and burned up your transmission. The tow operator's negligence is not excused by the actions of the dumbass truck driver which led to the need for the tow.

[Terry T]

I'll add to my comment about getting directions: I always ask to speak with the shipping/receiving departments due to once asking for directions from the receptionist/operator who answered my inquiry with "um.... I don't really think, um... I don't know how to tell you to get here...." My reasoning/experience is that these are the people who typically deal directly with the drivers coming into their facility and, as we all know, truck drivers will always give you their piece of mind if there is an issue with directions and it seems that the folks in these departments have the best knowledge of directions due to this. It is also good for verifying ship/recv hours, appointments, etc...

[Green Dash]

One of my favorites!.................................Mark

I like how it ends with "recalculating!"

I had a similar story last year. But in my defense I had looked at the map,Put it in the GPS and looked to make sure it wasn't a restricted route. No nothing on the truckers atlas.Road started out good then when I turned onto the last road which still had no restriction road got real narrow. This point I was like I can't back out now. Just took my time till I got to the first uturn. made a hard left. ran the truck off the road and trailer up on the side of the mountain. 15 more turns later and a few trucks passing me trailer just about taking a fence out as it started sliding down till I got to the oncoming side to pull it back up.Made a mental note to myself after that. Anytime in West Va unless it is a US route, or interstate. what way I go into the job is the way I come back out. Also if it means 100 more miles on the route

You took the proper steps and just had a case of bad luck. There are some that couldn't get from point A to point B without getting into trouble even if both shipper and receiver were located adjacent to an interstate.

[other dog]

Thats not always the case. Most of those phone monkies couldn't lead you to there house let alone truck route into there place. I still call but usually just follow the permit till the very end then fill in the blanks when I get close and the routing stops

This is true. I have called places for directions before and the person on the phone made me wonder how they managed to find their way to work there every day.

I usually call headquarters for directions now, they can look it up on the computer. I don't know if they use google earth, google maps, or some other program but i've been in the office and seen Neal look up directions for other drivers and it zooms in really tight and it's really fast so they can usually find you the best way to get to a place in a truck.

[Apple dog]

Go to Miami and call a warehouse to get directions. After the transfer you to 3 different people none of which you can understand you wonder how they get to work. Then the person that finnaly get on the phone that you can't understand tries for 10 minutes to tell you how to get there it leaves one wondering how they got to Miami.

[Mike]

Now it all makes more sense to me, but it has taken almost 10 years to learn.

mike

[lucerne tractor]

Thats not always the case. Most of those phone monkies couldn't lead you to there house let alone truck route into there place. I still call but usually just follow the permit till the very end then fill in the blanks when I get close and the routing stops

I get it all the time when I call, I don't know I'm not from here, what way is north? I use the atlas combined with the gps, Alot of times I know it's wrong and just keep going, it recalculates till it get it right. Even permited loads, sometimes the permits put you into corners that can't be done, so you go left instead of right and look for a place to turn back. I'm sure that if you got caught it would be a fine even though you couldn't make the turn without taking a pole and half a lawn. I write the routes in big letters on the permit so I can see them quick, the other day in Dover going down 17 I was to take a right on 14 to 317 or 313 it all worked out great, simple link for the three roads, got on a streight stretch and got pulled over and got a ticket, should have taken the new road further down 17, 14 tr. SImple harmless mistake but mistakes are money now days. Oh yah, I better send that in, oops!!!