Dafman:
Hgv your original comment about not having a brain is a bit rude,i have also used a Satnav for about 8 years and still have the original tomtom and the one i am using now is about 4 years old and not been updated and i have never used a truckers atlas either, i never seem to get lost or hit a bridge its called common sense a thing sadly lacking today in a lot of drivers, i have no idea how i managed before with just an atlas.
1 of the goons at our place followed his sat nav religiously, he would get stuck once a week and he is a fair experianced driver, He is now banned from using a Sat Nav, well not banned morelike someone drove over it so it couldnt be used again
He also says he has a better one at home but its too good for work.
I prefer a god old map, A Sat Nav is handy to get you towards an area IMO.
hgvhgv:
I suppose you still use a mangle instead of a washing machine? Or a payphone instead of a mobile? My point is tech is moving on everyday
so why not make the most of it? Of course you still need common sense! Are you saying no trucker has ever got lost or gone the wrong way before sat navs?! If the tech is there, use it!
I’m not saying any of that, but since the introduction of sat navs its become more preverlant than it was. Can’t remember many news items of trucks being craned out when they got stuck.
I use technology on a regular basis, even have the farm version of sat nav on a tractor i use, but it can make you lazy, I used to be able to drill in a straight line, now I just programme the auto steer and let it get on with it. You can tell the difference in a field where the signal is poor and I have to take over, nowhere near as straight as I used to be.
The problem is the technology is another reason for keeping the wages down, all you are now is a steering wheel attendant. Take it to its extremes and you won’t have a job, the technology will be doing it.
Don’t you just love these smug sods telling anyone who doesn’t have a Gucci satnav they must be brainless.
Get over yourself, some of us have been doing the job perfectly well with maximum height and weight motors for bloody dozens of years without any poncy tech kit.
hgvhgv:
And how will they know if your using one? Common sense is always needed along with an atlas, if your using a sat nav desinged for a car then you clearly dont have the brains to drive a truck!
What a strange comment. If you can’t be trusted with a satnav unless it’s a specific truck one then I don’t think you should be driving a truck. I’ve been using a car one for years, no problems yet. But then I don’t blindly follow it, do you?
just out of curiosity i wonder how many oh i got lost following the sat nav type drivers still have a job?
maybe the dcpc will release a common sense module to go with the rest of the crap
Henrys cat:
I’m not saying any of that, but since the introduction of sat navs its become more preverlant than it was. Can’t remember many news items of trucks being craned out when they got stuck.
Yes, but that’s because there also weren’t thousands and thousands of people walking around with cameras built into mobile phones ready to take pictures of lorries getting stuck.
Bought my grandad a sat nav yrs ago for christmas.
His responce?
“found my way round the western dessert chasing the germans with a map and compass, don’t need some new fangle computer thingy to show me how to get around”!!!
I only use mine for the last couple of miles, only yesterday in Manchester the bottom of Deansgate is closed for some reason and the diversion has a 7.5 ton weight limit on it except for buses (how good is that). Fortunately, switching on my sat nav and putting in the postcode got me out of the [zb]. They do have there uses.
I’ve found the best way to use a satnav is in the 2D mode with the sound turned off. It can then be used as a back up to a proper map without the distraction of sound, a quick glance at the satnav in 2D gives a better idea of your options.
rambo19:
“found my way round the western dessert chasing the germans with a map and compass, don’t need some new fangle computer thingy to show me how to get around”!!!
Surely if he was chasing them, he just went wherever they did? Doesn’t sound like there would have been much navigation involved
Fastrantiger:
I’ve found the best way to use a satnav is in the 2D mode with the sound turned off. It can then be used as a back up to a proper map without the distraction of sound, a quick glance at the satnav in 2D gives a better idea of your options.
Fastrantiger:
I’ve found the best way to use a satnav is in the 2D mode with the sound turned off. It can then be used as a back up to a proper map without the distraction of sound, a quick glance at the satnav in 2D gives a better idea of your options.
Tiger.
I do that too, even though I shouldn’t drive because i’m a brainless idiot using a car satnav
Harry Monk:
Any company is perfectly entitled to prohibit the use of SatNavs, or aftermarket SatNavs in their vehicles. Presumably they will provide route instructions to delivery points.
That’s pretty much what our mob do. The challenge is when you have more than one drop (all routes are from the depot) or, most likely, a diversion for a location that wasn’t on the original route and so no route instructions. There were map books put into all the fleet vehicles but sad to say many have been “damaged” or “lost”.
Back in my early days with the firms predecessors (Tibbet & Britten) every driver had his own map book so they tended to be in better condition and you could make your own notes of reference points etc. I still have mine in a ring binder that stays in the locker hardly ever comes out now that’s how sad I am.
In my day bag I carry a national atlas and my latest phone has one of these map apps which I used for the first time this weekend just gone because I had the postcode.
Satnavs are the one gadget no driver should be without but as ever people’s own stupidity causes problems maybe they should just make stupidity illegal
war1974:
just out of curiosity i wonder how many oh i got lost following the sat nav type drivers still have a job?
maybe the dcpc will release a common sense module to go with the rest of the crap
The common sense module of the DCPC would be to get rid of the DCPC
I’ve always used maps and A-Zs, and now Sat navs, generally to get an idea where the drop is. Personally I am starting to use google maps on my phone which I find really useful!
Banning them is not really viable, and just pointless.
What did we do before satnavs, we used maps and A-Z, before A-Z it was get in the general area (hopefully) and ask!!
Bit more difficult as I now work nights, and can only speak english.
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