I will follow this GPS to the end of the earth....

[clearconscience]

When I was in kentucky and doing road service we depended on GPS to find addresses.
The problem?
About 10% of the area was new neighborhoods/commercial.
These didn't show up on the GPS.
It was a crapshoot trying to find half these places.
I went to one call that led me to train tracks I couldn't cross.
I had to drive 20 mins to go all the way around the area to get back to where I was 20 yards away.

 

[mkwerx]

I have a few oh crap moments trying to find some places off the beaten path, and trusting gps. Never got stuck, but a few times I found a bridge only as wide as the trucks dualies but made it across. Then there was the damn thing trying to get me to take a "road" that turned out to be two ruts on the opposite side of a rock jack fence (no, i didnt try taking it) - or many times running out to The Dalles and having Tom Tom try to get me to drive off a cliff. All in places I didn't have maps for, and this was pre smart phone times.

I use google maps now.

 

[slimmer13]

He had a date with the Deliverance boys back in the woods and got stuck.

 

[The Heretic]

If I was the trucking co. that kid would have lost his job right there. Those rigs are not cheap and to do something that stupid with the rig and cargo would be inexcusable.

Are the trucking companies really that desperate that they would hire someone that inexperienced and stupid??

 

[EPS]

If I was the trucking co. that kid would have lost his job right there. Those rigs are not cheap and to do something that stupid with the rig and cargo would be inexcusable.

Are the trucking companies really that desperate that they would hire someone that inexperienced and stupid??

Yep

 

[The Heretic]

I have a few oh crap moments trying to find some places off the beaten path, and trusting gps. Never got stuck, but a few times I found a bridge only as wide as the trucks dualies but made it across. Then there was the damn thing trying to get me to take a "road" that turned out to be two ruts on the opposite side of a rock jack fence (no, i didnt try taking it) - or many times running out to The Dalles and having Tom Tom try to get me to drive off a cliff. All in places I didn't have maps for, and this was pre smart phone times.

I use google maps now.

Google maps once showed that there was a road crossing our farm - it was only a tractor path.

The county has at times in the past planned roads that never got built, but they are still on their records as being there when they were never there.

In addition, the roads are not always where the records show they should be. They get moved/rerouted or they were not built where planned (I found a survey stake on my property last week that shows that my private road is probably built 30' to the east of where it should be according to the easement on the plot map - probably because it was easier to do so - online mapping software/etc. show this road to be somewhere it isn't).

There are roads, especially in rural and backcountry areas, that no longer exist, or that are not reachable because they have been closed and/or wiped out by rivers/etc. - that are still on the map.

I believe the different mapping software started with government data for roads and never verified that they actually exist. They rely on the users to correct the data (I did for both my family's farm and for my private road).

 

[EPS]

I read both the State Police report as well as the detailed report on a turckers site. The kid made his first mistake when he input the wrong address in the GPS unit. The second mistake was not having at least some basic idea where he was going so he would know the route given was incorrect. The third was ever turning off of pavement. He should know that was illegal as Oregon has length laws on virtually all roads. I drive a Dump Truck and Trailer 75' long and in my cab is a stack an 1" thick of permits allowing me to drive where we work. Just to get past the 60' rule.

I do not think meth had anything to do with this.

There are Truck specific GPS units. After a wild trip through the under belly of LA delievering Christmas Tree's following a TOMTOM one of the guys I work with bought one. His TOM TOM sent him in places only because of his 20 years of experiance with Dump trucks was he able to get himself out (LOTS OF BACKING UP)

Yep you need the truck gps lol Spokane Washington if you follow the GPS in a truck around that city .
Your in trouble lot's of low clearance bridge and railroad tracks lol been there done that .
I wasn't driving my team partner was we got stuck under a over pass lol
Had to let the air out of are tires to back out .and then have a tire repair truck come and pump them up again .
Lucky thing was it was at 03:00 no traffic

 

[Squidly]

We've had trouble keeping drivers since we lost our main driver several years ago. The primary problem with new drivers is the dependence on their GPS. Our dispatch prints out a google map for each delivery, but the new drivers think their GPS is infallible. They end up late, or they "can't find" the delivery point because they don't bother to use the printed map. Our current driver does ok, but it took much screaming, yelling, and brow-beating to get him to understand reality. Almost lost him too.

 

[CoastRange57]

Considering some of the drivers I see at work; this guy would fit right in.

There is no doubt a shortage of GOOD CDL drivers. Pay scales are slowly increasing but still well below what will get you good drivers. I have to hang some of this on his company. Regional trucking company. Probably paying him by the hour rather than the mile. Therefore the longer he works the more he makes that way regardless of the miles he rolls.

If he was making by the mile he might be a bit more motivated to get his routes right so he could roll some miles and make some money. Since they did have at least a basic GPS tracking system that gave them some kind of telemetry information, then his dispatcher, if they had one should have been able to send him a message via the system asking him where the f are you going ?

The smaller regional companies have a harder time rolling miles due to the roads and types of loads they have. I friend is working long haul right now and has for several years. Great company, he is their top driver, he makes about 100K a year solo, and does it by rolling 11 hours a day right to the max hours. All tracked by GPS.

Training is always an issue with any trucking company. The drivers that worked for me were dual purpose, they had construction responsibilities as well, the trucking was a secondary function of their job. I still made sure they were trained properly, we talked about
where they were going and how not to get into trouble. I had a bonus system in place that allowed them to make decent bonus's on a monthly basis

 

[Captain O]

Something tells me that this person isn't the brightest crayon in the box. I learned to think for myself and read maps as well as road signs. This usually works rather well.

 

[RicInOR]

Updated story on the news this morning.

Had entered incorrect address for destination. When he updated that, the GPS suggested a Forest Service road. Not sure if he knew what that meant. Not sure why the company would allow FS roads to be included (maybe they have deliveries to the Service?)

30 mile hike out.
Still under medical care.

 

[RicInOR]

Beaverton School District uses GPS in all (or most all) their busses now. The drivers cannot access that while driving ( no being distracted by electronics )

If you have children in the district, as a parent you can track your bus - just need the app.

I would guess most major districts use similar systems.

 

[Captain O]

Updated story on the news this morning.

Had entered incorrect address for destination. When he updated that, the GPS suggested a Forest Service road. Not sure if he knew what that meant. Not sure why the company would allow FS roads to be included (maybe they have deliveries to the Service?)

30 mile hike out.
Still under medical care.

Human error is usually the reason these things take place. Many people rely on technology and neglect their observation skills. I believe that, more often than not, this is the cause of such problems.

 

[CoastRange57]

30 mile hike out.

He walked away from his truck. Not back the way he came, which would have put him back on a road that had traffic. That earns him the dumbest son of a trucker award and a complete swing and miss for Darwin.

 

[Captain O]

He walked away from his truck. Not back the way he came, which would have put him back on a road that had traffic. That earns him the dumbest son of a trucker award and a complete swing and miss for Darwin.

Pookie isn't too sharp, is he?

 

[ZigZagZeke]

Just for grins on my way to the ranch in Maupin from Eugene I asked my navigation software for the most direct route from here to there. It took me through Sweet Home and came out at Timothy Lake on Hwy 26. In between there were a few miles of very primitive road. I was beginning to think I might have to turn around, even with 4WD, but eventually the road got better and I made it. I would not have done that in bad weather, winter time, or at night.

 

[EPS]

Just for grins on my way to the ranch in Maupin from Eugene I asked my navigation software for the most direct route from here to there. It took me through Sweet Home and came out at Timothy Lake on Hwy 26. In between there were a few miles of very primitive road. I was beginning to think I might have to turn around, even with 4WD, but eventually the road got better and I made it. I would not have done that in bad weather, winter time, or at night.

Or in a 18 wheeler lol

 

[Grimm]

I'm 28 and have been a driver for about 10 years now. I still remember my first year, I was making a delivery outside of Mcminnville and though Mapquest (its what we had) would get me there just fine. Well, It did. It also took me through downtown mack pulling a 48 footer that was brushing up against illegal height. Thought it all went well until I got to WOW and realized I had 3 strings of xmas lights and a few branches hanging off my tarp. Whoops!

 

[RLS]

It amazes me that people do not use paper maps. I have logged more miles then i could count in the last 35+ years and they work just fine. I do use a GPS in the woods on foot but it is always backed up by a compos and a good topo map. The GPS should never be used on mountain roads that you are not familiar with.

I don't think many people under 30 even know how to use a paper map these days, And that includes my own kids that i taught to read a map when they were little.

 

[Captain O]

It amazes me that people do not use paper maps. I have logged more miles then i could count in the last 35+ years and they work just fine. I do use a GPS in the woods on foot but it is always backed up by a compos and a good topo map. The GPS should never be used on mountain roads that you are not familiar with.

I don't think many people under 30 even know how to use a paper map these days, And that includes my own kids that i taught to read a map when they were little.

The kids today couldn't find their way out of a "wet paper bag" without instructions, GPS a cell phone, and a razor blade. (As a kid I was daddy's "little navigator").

Good times!