Over the past few months there have been a number of incidents of trucks, hitting bridges, hitting houses and getting stuck down country lanes.
Now I know Sat-Navs are everywhere and also very cheap to buy now a days, but do drivers still consult a map?
I have seen the trucker maps which show bridge and tunnel highs and narrow roads.
I grew up in Norfolk and worked on a lot of farms, and driving oversize farm machinery meant you had to know where you were going, one wrong turn in Norfolk can lead to disaster.
This experience as meant, that once I obtain my licence I will be purchasing a good truckers map and making sure I plan my routes out, so I don’t end up in a serious situation.
I guess what I’m asking is do drivers still carry / consult a map?
Is the little black ‘magic’ box being depended on too much?
Is there an issue with signs and metric / imperial measurements?
for me the issues we have are nothing to do with sat navs more to do with we have far far more drivers who the UK is a foreign country, drivers not able to go out and learn the ropes due to health and safety etc.
lets face it if you are thick enough to follow a sat nav into a bridge your thick enough to follow a map into a bridge.
i also think trailers should have to have both heights ie feet and inches as well as meters.
The sat nav does not control the vehicle,the driver does.
Anyone who says after a incident that “the sat nav took me that way” should have their head chopped off…or maybe just taken off the road for everyone elses safety…whichever of the 2 is easiest.
Still keep a map book in my drivers bag
Don’t use a Tw&t Nav
Usually try & plan my route at least the day before I go by looking on the 'puter at Google maps & streetview, to see if there may be a problem with access
If you Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail !!
Seriously though, If I get to depot & get sent somewhere I haven’t been before, I will try & have a look & ask others if they have been, Again - Forwarned is Forarmed
Toddy2:
Still keep a map book in my drivers bag
Don’t use a [zb] Nav
Usually try & plan my route at least the day before I go by looking on the 'puter at Google maps & streetview, to see if there may be a problem with access
If you Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail !!
Seriously though, If I get to depot & get sent somewhere I haven’t been before, I will try & have a look & ask others if they have been, Again - Forwarned is Forarmed
Use mine for general location finding but also if its a house name or just a post code I use google / zoopla.
And my a2z maps. Works well as I dont hit things like bridges.
Half the incidents are caused by idiots following a car nav so diligently that they ignore height or width signs.
Then again I took my 7.5 down a lane with a 6foot width warning. With a copper following me.
Stopped to let him pass to get a rollocking of him. Till I pointed to the farm on the hill saying I’m going there. And the restrictions after the turning…
I always have a good paper mapbook (collins) it gives me a good overveiw of where i need to go
good city area maps and the batteries dont run out or if the pages tear sellotape fixes that
sat navs are brilliant for their size and conveniance but as we know prone to sending you on a mystery tour that can end in tears
ten minutes planning save alot of time and embarresment explaining what went wrong
and of course the use of the Mk1 eyeball connected to the grey matter is essential
I always try and cross check the destination point with Google maps just to make sure. Been caught out a few times. Also, who uses a map still? Its 2014! Get with the times.
tachograph:
Drivers hitting bridges ec’t has more to do with not using their eyes and common sense than it does on the usefulness of sat-navs.
Not using common sense is arguably a direct result of satnav. You pay more attention to road signs and landmarks when you are navigating yourself
I agree.
A sat nav is just an electronic map that talks to you.
They fit in your pocket and cover every scale of map you could possibly want.
The talking bit is good as well, they usually warn you in plenty of time, so you can set yourself up for the approaching turning. With no taking your eyes off the road for a quick glance at a map.
They are also right 99% of the time (roughly).
This is a good percentage of why, when they make that 1% error, the driver finds themself really deeply in the ■■■■. You come to trust the sat nav, so when it screws up, by the time you realise it’s too late.
That doesn’t excuse hitting bridges though. Or driving through a weight restriction, or passing a sign saying “not suitable for LGVs” etc. Those types of things are usually down to poor driver skills and/or knowledge, imo.
i have a good AA truckers map with bridge heights and always use it, dont have a satnav.
trouble is its very old and tiered now, and stills shows the M6 toll road under construction!
last time i looked at replacing it with a new updated version, i couldnt find one with bridge heights.
do they still sell them now?
Bought myself a new Phillips Atlas, just this week. I use it to double check the route my phone maps gives me, for bridges etc. The phone maps is good for estimated journey times which I can check on.my timer too which is handy. I still use the Phillips county/a-z maps for proper detail though. You just can’t go wrong with them. I prefer to know where I am going miles in advance, not metres!
If you had someone sat next to you saying ‘turn left here’ and it looked abit tight you would ask the question ‘are you sure’,
If the sat nav says the same thing you go up and end up in the ■■■■.
Common sense is lacking in the industry, drivers are too scared to stop the motor and go for a look and walk round.
Gone are the days where the driver had the map in his right hand giraffe necking every corner looking a landmark or drop
Radar19:
I always try and cross check the destination point with Google maps just to make sure. Been caught out a few times. Also, who uses a map still? Its 2014! Get with the times.
I agree, my brother in law is old school and also all the drivers i have worked with use car navs, my point is most of the conversations they have is what is the best way in here and there because there are a few low bridges in that area, my response is im not worried about bridges as the tom tom truck never fails, all i use is tom tom truck and Google maps that’s all you need i do have a Phillips truckers Britain in my bag also just in case sat nav ever broke. just makes the job easier.
sweeper1gg:
im not worried about bridges as the tom tom truck never fails,
This is a very dangerous mindset. Whilst I’m an avid proponent of sat-navs they’re not infallible and the TomTom Truck is no exception. I’ve had a 5150 for 2 years and found several missing bridges.
I use the Phillips paper map too and that has even more stuff missing. I combine the 2 with google maps, a mark 1 eye ball and a side helping of common sense.
sweeper1gg:
my brother in law is old school and also all the drivers i have worked with use car navs, my point is most of the conversations they have is what is the best way in here and there because there are a few low bridges in that area, my response is im not worried about bridges as the tom tom truck never fails, all i use is tom tom truck and Google maps that’s all you need i do have a Phillips truckers Britain in my bag also just in case sat nav ever broke. just makes the job easier.
You could learn a lot from those other drivers, the idea that any sat-nav can be relied on because it “never fails” is a thought process that could eventually leave you stuck under a bridge or down a country lane that you cannot negotiate.
There was a recent story about several drivers having to be recovered from a field, the reason they ended up in a field was because Google Maps wrongly showed a path as a road, sadly one of the drivers who had to be recovered was a lorry driver
I can easily believe that all of those people thought they could rely on the sat-nav because it has never failed them before.
I’m definitely an advocate of sat-navs, but not an advocate of the idea that they can be relied on because they “never fail”.
I have a Truckers road atlas in my bag, albeit a quite old one, and always have even though I’ve been using Satnav for well over a decade. Satnavs are only as reliable as the data on the mapping and there are plenty of examples you’ll find when driving around where its not up to date with junctions and roundabouts still being shown as what they were before, speed limits which are wrong etc.
i have a good AA truckers map with bridge heights and always use it, dont have a satnav.
trouble is its very old and tiered now, and stills shows the M6 toll road under construction!
last time i looked at replacing it with a new updated version, i couldnt find one with bridge heights.
do they still sell them now?
sweeper1gg:
my brother in law is old school and also all the drivers i have worked with use car navs, my point is most of the conversations they have is what is the best way in here and there because there are a few low bridges in that area, my response is im not worried about bridges as the tom tom truck never fails, all i use is tom tom truck and Google maps that’s all you need i do have a Phillips truckers Britain in my bag also just in case sat nav ever broke. just makes the job easier.
You could learn a lot from those other drivers, the idea that any sat-nav can be relied on because it “never fails” is a thought process that could eventually leave you stuck under a bridge or down a country lane that you cannot negotiate.
There was a recent story about several drivers having to be recovered from a field, the reason they ended up in a field was because Google Maps wrongly showed a path as a road, sadly one of the drivers who had to be recovered was a lorry driver
I can easily believe that all of those people thought they could rely on the sat-nav because it has never failed them before.
I’m definitely an advocate of sat-navs, but not an advocate of the idea that they can be relied on because they “never fail”.
Its the cross over from common sense to trusting the Sat Nav that is dangerous, frightening in fact.
I used to do a couple of drops in Wigan, If I was to follow the sat nav I would go down a narrow lane and into the canal, common sense told me the lane didnt look right, others would trust the box too much and end up with wet wheels.
