The idea of following sat nav directions is a contradiction because at that point it’s an admission that a computer can drive a truck better than a human.When it clearly can’t
No it isn’t. It’s an admission that a computer can sort you a route (not necessarily the right one I must stress) then highlight said route, and keep scrolling showing you said route, until you reach your destination. Aiding you.
Saves you the effort of stopping every time you cannot remember where you are going, or even worse stealing a glance at a map every couple of seconds when you suddenly don’t know where you are! Which is a crash waiting to happen.
Before anyone starts decrying me for saying a Sat Nav is a useful tool, “how did we manage in the good ol’ days?” I agree finding a distribution centre on an industrial estate is easy, but finding 47 World’s End Lane, Bumfuckt Nowhere, is not so easy.
I do however agree with you that the responsibility remains with the driver to decide if it is safe to go down a road suggested by the Sat Nav. Also that the ability for a computer to drive a truck factoring all the things you have suggested is a long way off. We aren’t totally obsolete yet.
The idea of following sat nav directions is a contradiction because at that point it’s an admission that a computer can drive a truck better than a human.When it clearly can’t
No it isn’t. It’s an admission that a computer can sort you a route (not necessarily the right one I must stress) then highlight said route, and keep scrolling showing you said route, until you reach your destination. Aiding you.
Saves you the effort of stopping every time you cannot remember where you are going, or even worse stealing a glance at a map every couple of seconds when you suddenly don’t know where you are! Which is a crash waiting to happen.
Before anyone starts decrying me for saying a Sat Nav is a useful tool, “how did we manage in the good ol’ days?” I agree finding a distribution centre on an industrial estate is easy, but finding 47 World’s End Lane, Bumfuckt Nowhere, is not so easy.
I do however agree with you that the responsibility remains with the driver to decide if it is safe to go down a road suggested by the Sat Nav. Also that the ability for a computer to drive a truck factoring all the things you have suggested is a long way off. We aren’t totally obsolete yet.
Tin hat on
The contradiction in that case being that the sat nav is showing ‘the route’ to the destination as it sees it but only the driver knows wether the truck can actually use the route in question.The problem then being what happens if/when the driver just decides to follow the route literally instead of knowing when to call it a day and make further enquiries regarding confirming the address of the delivery point and then sorting out a suitable route accordingly.In all cases google maps and a mobile phone being more useful in that regard than a sat nav.
If he was going to the muller factory then he should have gone straight on instead of turning right, but he wouldn’t have known that…how do I know? I nearly got stuck in Market Drayton on my first visit to the mullar factory and I’ll tell you how.
Coming up the Newcastle Road you come to a fork in the road with the A53, left to Market Drayton and straight on to what is the by-pass and on to the muller factory. When I reached the fork the sat-nav was saying to go left, BUT there was a ■■■■■■■ sign for the muller factory pointing left too which I took. Ended up in the center of M’ Drayton, went round the S bend, first right, squeezed past an English Heritage type hotel then up Shrewsbury Road to mullers.
When you’re not from England, like me and him or, are not familiar with the area, like me and him, its easy to take a wrong turn so you try to get out without wrecking the place Getting lost/stuck comes with the job.
How brilliant would most of us be if we happened to be in this poor sods shoes, stuck in some godforsaken back lane in an unpronounceable village or small town in the middle of some other country.
Maybe we’d spot every bloody sign from a mile off, we’d speekee speel and wrote the local dialect fluently, we’d have our Ever Ready all seeing eye crystal ball primed and would know we should be approaching this turning from the other direction before we even entered the country…more likely that we’d be just as flustered and lost as this poor sod and make a sight bigger pigs ear of it.
Some can’t manage a London drop or find our way between two English towns without getting in a flap and pleading for help from the TN collective.
The answer to this problem would be a massive return to unaccompanied trailer ferrying, no need for johnny foreigner to cause mayhem, we could do it for him.
peter s:
If he was going to the muller factory then he should have gone straight on instead of turning right, but he wouldn’t have known that…how do I know? I nearly got stuck in Market Drayton on my first visit to the mullar factory and I’ll tell you how.
Coming up the Newcastle Road you come to a fork in the road with the A53, left to Market Drayton and straight on to what is the by-pass and on to the muller factory. When I reached the fork the sat-nav was saying to go left, BUT there was a [zb] sign for the muller factory pointing left too which I took. Ended up in the center of M’ Drayton, went round the S bend, first right, squeezed past an English Heritage type hotel then up Shrewsbury Road to mullers.
When you’re not from England, like me and him or, are not familiar with the area, like me and him, its easy to take a wrong turn so you try to get out without wrecking the place Getting lost/stuck comes with the job.
In the direction he was going in he would have had to turn off the wrong exit of the roundabout off the A53 when the place was right in front of him.Everything after that,in the direction he was going,took him away from the place.Should have gone to spec savers if he missed that at the roundabout.
Juddian:
How brilliant would most of us be if we happened to be in this poor sods shoes, stuck in some godforsaken back lane in an unpronounceable village or small town in the middle of some other country.
Maybe we’d spot every bloody sign from a mile off, we’d speekee speel and wrote the local dialect fluently, we’d have our Ever Ready all seeing eye crystal ball primed and would know we should be approaching this turning from the other direction before we even entered the country…more likely that we’d be just as flustered and lost as this poor sod and make a sight bigger pigs ear of it.
Some can’t manage a London drop or find our way between two English towns without getting in a flap and pleading for help from the TN collective.
The answer to this problem would be a massive return to unaccompanied trailer ferrying, no need for johnny foreigner to cause mayhem, we could do it for him.
Everyone gets flustered or distracted and makes mistakes. A while back I tore the curtain on some angled barbed wire on top of a fence. It was tricky to see but the reason it happened really was I was distracted by a text that came in whilst I was reversing.
In this case though I’m not really sure this guy is ordinarily that competent behind the wheel of a truck it doesn’t seem to me to be even a fairly good stab at it.
peter s:
If he was going to the muller factory then he should have gone straight on instead of turning right, but he wouldn’t have known that…how do I know? I nearly got stuck in Market Drayton on my first visit to the mullar factory and I’ll tell you how.
Coming up the Newcastle Road you come to a fork in the road with the A53, left to Market Drayton and straight on to what is the by-pass and on to the muller factory. When I reached the fork the sat-nav was saying to go left, BUT there was a [zb] sign for the muller factory pointing left too which I took. Ended up in the center of M’ Drayton, went round the S bend, first right, squeezed past an English Heritage type hotel then up Shrewsbury Road to mullers.
When you’re not from England, like me and him or, are not familiar with the area, like me and him, its easy to take a wrong turn so you try to get out without wrecking the place Getting lost/stuck comes with the job.
In the direction he was going in he would have had to turn off the wrong exit of the roundabout off the A53 when the place was right in front of him.Everything after that,in the direction he was going,took him away from the place.Should have gone to spec savers if he missed that at the roundabout.
Maybe the media got bored of calling every vehicle bigger than a transit a 44 tonner and from now on we’ll all be driving Thundering 45ft Killer Juggernauts.
Radar19:
The buck stops with you and your (if you have any) common sense. If the satnav points you down a place that is obviously too small for you then don’t go down it! Also, if he was using a truck satnav surely it wouldn’t of taken him round that bend?
I agree with you about who is responsible, the driver not the sat nav.
However it’s hardly a tight road/turn, he just ■■■■■■ up on his approach and positioning, no doubt had someone up his arse and didn’t try to reverse and go again.
If you didn’t go down roads like that you’d never get anything done!
which I took. Ended up in the center of M’ Drayton, went round the S bend, first right, squeezed past an English Heritage type hotel then up Shrewsbury Road to mullers. 
