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UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
41

Finding towns never used to be a problem with maps, it was finding individual streets within those towns that was the time consuming ballache. You know, the factory unit in a tiny cul de sac with no name plate on it that nobody had ever heard of. I used to hate finding people to ask where places where.

Trying to find a phone box that worked was also a total pain in the ■■■■, but I truly believe it should be made illegal for traffic offices to keep hassling drivers on the cabphone nowadays. That level of distraction is why some drivers (or other road users) never come home again.

42

desypete:
for once there is an mp who knows what he is talking about

they should ban the use of sat navs altogether for hgv drivers as far to much damage is going on because they can not be bothered to plan there route first, its not rocket science, its what we did before sat navs came along

they should treat sat nav usage like they treat mobile phone usage, make it an offence to use them, that should sort out the men from the boys in the driving game i mean if they can not use maps or find there way around without a sat nav then they shouldnt be being paid the same rates as drivers who can get around without them as there not doing the job are they, the sat nav should get a bit of there wages lol

sat nav should get a bit of there wages lol

What a stupid thing to write.

Even my teenage nieces have grown out of ending sentences with lol instead of a full stop.

43

Ha ha brilliant. Lol. [WINKING FACE]

44

I always check which minor roads I need after the main roads and write them down. I do quite often use the sat nav for the last couple of miles, if on a small road as the b@llache of missing and having to turn round pains me

45

damoq:
I actually agree with this. A bit of route planning by using a good old fashioned map prior to starting a journey would probably reduce all the mishaps drastically. Planning your route on a map means you are more likely to stick to main roads and not end up on single track farm roads etc. By all means use a satnav for the last mile.

But this is exactly what a “truck” satnav such as the TomTom 5150 does - if at all possible it routes via Motorways and A-roads (even if that adds several miles or 15 minutes to the journey). It only resorts to B-roads and unclassified roads if there is no other practicable route.

Somewhat perversely, this means that the “last mile” (or two) is the time when it is most likely to choose an unsuitable road.

Point being, there is more to large/heavy vehicle routing than simply overlaying bridge heights and weight restrictions onto a car/small vehicle satnav.

It’s also worth reminding drivers that most satnavs also show a map of the proposed route, and they can see a list of the roads to be used and zoom in to see an onscreen map of any potential problem areas before starting off. In other words, engage brain before engaging gear…

46

I suspect that Mr. Grayling has been quoted out of context as journalists, in search of controversy, tend to do. There certainly appear to have been problems caused by satnavs that have been blindly followed but on balance, the benefits outweigh them. I agree planning is desirable but jobs get altered around while we are en route. We can’t keep detailed street maps of everywhere with us in the cab. trying to follow a map on your lap is more dangerous than a talking sat nav located at eye level. Mr Grayling might do better by allocating resources to installing electronic early bridge-height and narrow road warnings and by charging VOSA with the responsibility for maintaining damaged or foliage-obscured road signs and directions.

47

I use a combination of os maps and google maps. Streetview is brilliant as at least you can find out what a road or building looks like before you get there.
I also draw/mark certain places on my os maps like old stations, a farm that’s shown but not named etc.

48

Sat nav is exactly the same as a map. Except it doesn’t get all dog eared and fall apart, it doesn’t have that coffee stain over the bit you want to look at, nor does it have roads that go into the spine of the book or over the page. You just need to know how to use it.

I bought a Phillips Navigator to see what I was missing out on. Nothing.

If all you do is punch in a postcode, you get what you deserve.

49

mbax81:

damoq:
I actually agree with this. A bit of route planning by using a good old fashioned map prior to starting a journey would probably reduce all the mishaps drastically. Planning your route on a map means you are more likely to stick to main roads and not end up on single track farm roads etc. By all means use a satnav for the last mile.

Agreed, personally if I’m going somewhere new I check route in my atlas, then use sat nav to guide me in.

Also, to me, using a Sat nav is no different to using my old regional a-z. It’s just an electronic version. If I got to road that looked dodgy following my a-z l wouldn’t have just gone for it. Same applies for sat nav now

Two good posts, this is what I do.
If the address sounds a bit dubious, I’ll Google and Street View it too.

50

Can someone 100% confirm that before sat navs no one ever got lost/took a wrong turn down a narrow street or hit a bridge■■?
If not then this whole anti sat nav crap holds no ground.
And as for these village folk complaining about big lorries polluting their clean country air,I suspect that is mainly due to the demise of the local village shop and the opening of a tesco extra or such like in their village.

51

Maybe the Grayling family fortune is based on the map making industry? :angry: :wink:

52

ckm1981:
Can someone 100% confirm that before sat navs no one ever got lost/took a wrong turn down a narrow street or hit a bridge■■?
If not then this whole anti sat nav crap holds no ground.
And as for these village folk complaining about big lorries polluting their clean country air,I suspect that is mainly due to the demise of the local village shop and the opening of a tesco extra or such like in their village.

Obviously things did go wrong before satnavs. But camera phones, Facebook, twitter etc means that mishaps just get reported more than they did years ago.
But ask yourself why alot of farmers or villages have felt the need to put signs up warning drivers not to use a particular road if following their satnav. They’ve obviously noticed a big increase in drivers coming to greif since their introduction. I stand by my theory that if you plan your route on a map, you are more likely to stick to main roads and not end up stuck down a farm track somewhere because your satnav knows a shortcut.

53

“Tory MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, who warned that “more and more lorries are getting larger and larger.”

Must be all those pasties:)

54

I used to have a regular delivery near B’ham Airport of stone to a stonemason. He was a one-man-band who worked in a barn beside a farm and the entrance was a bit tricky because of the deep ditches beside the lane.

One day I was there but he wasn’t around, so I left a message on his phone, unloaded myself and used his kettle to make some coffee. Eventually he turned up with quite a tale: He had ordered 20 tonnes of granite and the driver had used his satnav to find the farm. The way I came in was a narrow lane that went on past the farm and across some fields - on the OS map I used, it was clear that it became a track with a couple of 90 degree bends before joining the main road further down.

The driver with the granite had come in that way. Fair enough to ignore the “Unsuitable” sign - there was one at the other end as well, but you would have thought that after a few hundred yards, on a single track lane that had lost most of its surface and he reached the first tight bend, he might have re-considered. Nope - he managed to get round that one. The next one was clearly impossible so he decided to turn round by reversing into a field.

The lane was too tricky for a big crane, so they used a JCB to offload the granite and a bulldozer to push the trailer back out. I bet he doesn’t rely on satnavs anymore.

55

happysack:
Here’s an example for you. Navigate to the point on this map with a sat nav. Then tell me how many times you get stuck or go down prohibited roads.

I’ll counter your claim.

Tell me where I can buy a paper map which will show which roads a lorry is able to go down in your picture and which roads are prohibited. You can’t because one doesn’t exist. Even my truckers atlas doesn’t tell you. You’ll get at best an OS map for the area which tells you nothing more than a Satnav will in regards of the above.

56

mac12:
Because drivers are only using sat navs they are not learning there way around

I’ve been using Satnavs since 2001. I manage to find my way to places without them once I’ve been once or twice.

57

Conor:

desypete:
they should ban the use of sat navs altogether for hgv drivers as far to much damage is going on because they can not be bothered to plan there route first, its not rocket science, its what we did before sat navs came along

No we didn’t. What we did do was ask Old Fred in the yard the best way to somewhere. Fred would then draw a map in the crap on the back of the trailer which you’d commit to memory or scribble down on a bit of paper.You then drove to the town, stopped at the nearest petrol station and asked directions there or if you were lucky enough to be in a place covered by an A to Z you drove your 38 tonne truck through the town/city holding the steering wheel in one hand whilst trying to hold the A to Z in the other and change gear and follow it over several pages at the same time.

Satnavs are infinitely better than the crap that went on before. Just because you and your mates are too thick to work out how to use them properly doesn’t make them bad.

we used our maps to plan our way to the town or city we would be heading to, so we knew all the big roads to take in our memory’s normaly we would hit ring roads and stay on the ring roads to come to a major road that would take us to were we would go as we knew we would be safe on the main roads, we would never go down a road that looked tight we would check it out first before going down there

this is where the sat nav nerds lose as they just follow it without thinking

once in towns we would stop at the first garage or transport cafe or butty vans for any directions it was great as it would also tell you what roads not to go down as well, same as old fred who would be kind enough to map it out for you, they would also tell you what roads not to go down because of access or low bridge problems etc

the sat nav guys do none of this home work they jump in there cabs type in the post code and off they go trusting to that sat nav until of course things go wrong

like i said i can tell you how to get to anywhere around the uk without the need for a map as its all in my head from memory, the only help i would need is when in the town if i didnt know it but it never stopped me from finding how to get to my delivery, might have taken a wrong turn here or there but again nothing major were i couldnt of found a place to turn it around

i can not understand how the hell i have been 26 years in the game delievered all around the country all major citys, farms, out of the way places and never needed a sat sav and never hit a bridge or ended up going down roads i shouldnt be going down ?

the sat nav seems to replace the common sense drivers should have either that or the moden driver is just completley brain dead and needs gadgets these days to do the job for them. the standard of driving was a lot higher years ago
as the minimum requirement back then was you needed half a brain

ban the sat nav, make them illegal for hgv drivers like they do for mobile phones would be a step in the right direction to make the drivers learn an art form of finding there way around the country without a nurse maid

58

Conor:

happysack:
Here’s an example for you. Navigate to the point on this map with a sat nav. Then tell me how many times you get stuck or go down prohibited roads.

I’ll counter your claim.

Tell me where I can buy a paper map which will show which roads a lorry is able to go down in your picture and which roads are prohibited. You can’t because one doesn’t exist. Even my truckers atlas doesn’t tell you. You’ll get at best an OS map for the area which tells you nothing more than a Satnav will in regards of the above.

got to teach you map reading skills as well do we ?

we used to have collins road atlas and would you believe it those maps had coloured roads on them, red was a good road, blue was motorway, yellow roads were b roads and lines were the hard farm track type of roads

so you could plan your way in using all the big roads with ease. from the motorway, you would even find it might be better to come off a junction early or later just to stick to main roads rather than take a chance on going down a road that would look a bit of a no no on the map

so the maps gave you everything you needed to plan a nice safe route to your town your heading in, its not rocket science, if i could do it i am sure you could, your just to lazy is all and dependant on a sat nav to take you there but it comes with the risks of ending up in no where land, were you can not turn around or worse hitting bridges that you dont even know the height of etc

to be fair the only thing i really found to be great about the moden day stuff there is today is the google maps, the street view is the best thing i have ever seen as you can now have a look at access without the need to stop the truck and walk down to check it out

so for the google maps side of things it gets a thumbs up from me as a route planning aid, it is by far better than having a map and it can be used via a mobile phone so i give that a huge thumbs up

59

Sat Navs don’t have different coloured lines to denote different classes of road then Pete?

Oh wait, they do.

It’s almost like your talking out of your old hairy truckers arse. Again.

60

When I had to deliver a summer house to DSV in Fareham, the address was wrong so a quick wander up and down the street in Google maps led me to the right place. More often that not those small business parks can often share the same postcode across multiple buildings.