The system works

It's always the damn furriners:

"Foreign drivers are particularly bad in their blind adherence to satnav and need to improve their behaviour."

The article blames the "curse of satnav". Clearly, it's the work of the devli. All Hail Satnav, Lord of the Dyslex...WATCH OUT!!!"

About the only thing nasty my satnav has done to me is lead me to a non-existent Walmart in WV one time. Otherwise, it's been pretty good with today's hardware/software combo. This is in the USA, however, where the GPS system is operated. (Yeah, I know, it's like saying 'ATM machine' which is an Automated Teller Machine Machine; whatever.)

But then again I know enough to not let it lead me to drive into a lake, unless I intend to.

My nüvi speaks to me in a female british voice. I call her "Penelope", or "Penny" for short. Much more soothing than the biatchy female American voice. I don't have a name for her. Maybe I'll call her Toni, since a woman with that name in the past led me very, very, astray.

(No, it wasn't a man, baby, she was very much a chick. Real name was Norma.)

I love, love, LUUUVVV my GPS. But I have yet to go flying over the guard rail on the WA16/38th/I-5 spaghetti bowl, like it recommends. I'm smart enough to drive my car and accept that it was changed since the last map was updated on the system.

Weaps: (No, it wasn't a man, baby, she was very much a chick. Real name was Norma.)

Are sure it was a chick? Are you sure the name wasn't Lola?

"Everyone always wants new things. Everybody likes new inventions, new technology. People will never be replaced by machines. In the end, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake. And to me, the choice is easy."

"The problem is 'blind reliance'. If people were using a map they would be more likely to question whether a bridge was high enough for their vehicle but it's staggering to what extent people are blindly relying on technology."

How the hell is a map going to tell you any different?

dj_bigbird: Are you sure the name wasn't Lola?

Yeah, because I didn't meet her in a club down in old Soho.

Let's not get all Kinks-y here.

Maybe if you started marking the height in meters instead of Queensfeet or Hogsheads or whatever the hell you imperialists use you'd have less problems with furiners.

Robo73: "The problem is 'blind reliance'. If people were using a map they would be more likely to question whether a bridge was high enough for their vehicle but it's staggering to what extent people are blindly relying on technology."

How the hell is a map going to tell you any different?

I was thinking the exact same thing. The GPS system is just an electronic map.

However, do trucking companies use a specialized navigation system focusing only on roads that have enough clearance for the rigs?

Any truckers here know?

don't people use maps any more?

Problematic satellite navigation system has caused unsuspecting truck drivers to slam their vehicles into a railway bridge. Sixty-two times, so far morons not to look where they're going when they're driving

what the modern, technological worlds needs is less satnav and more sherpas.

road sherpas.

Article seems rather biased towards inattentive / blind faith drivers. How many actually applied common sense and kept on going?

Someone needs to sit there for a year and look out for drivers that start to make the turn and change their mind.

A simple input of vehicle height with road height restrictions in the software would fix that.

why the fark does this only seem to happen in the UK and scranton?

I can't stop giggling at the thought of trucks continuously driving into a bridge.

Teira: why the fark does this only seem to happen in the UK and scranton?

THIS. I was just going to post that very same question.

Seriously, wtf, Brits?

CarolynLibrarian: I love, love, LUUUVVV my GPS. But I have yet to go flying over the guard rail on the WA16/38th/I-5 spaghetti bowl, like it recommends. I'm smart enough to drive my car and accept that it was changed since the last map was updated on the system.

You don't need GPS to go flying over the rail on that exit. Spaghetti bowl doesn't even begin to explain that clusterfark of a roadway.

I often run on an old road that leads to a little used airport. I am amazed at the number of people I met out that who are told by their GPS that it is a "shortcut" to the interstate even though it is in the exact opposite direction from the interstate. And it's obvious that it's in the middle of freaking nowhere and that the interstate is not within three miles of where they are at. Why is it obvious? Because the airport is on top of a hill and if they simply looked in the rearview mirror they would see the interstate behind them.

"Blind reliance" is right.

Robo73: "The problem is 'blind reliance'. If people were using a map they would be more likely to question whether a bridge was high enough for their vehicle but it's staggering to what extent people are blindly relying on technology."

How the hell is a map going to tell you any different?

Maybe. But people do tend to question maps more. Sometimes it's possible to be too trusting of technology.

Tom Tom meet Nom Nom.......

TFA reminded me of this
35 freight car loads of new Ford SUV`s -vs- a low bridge

Link (new window)

ಠ_ಠ capecodcarl

Sound like the navigation system was making those truckers try to kill some Farker Trolls.

There was only one time when I wished I had a GPS installed in my car.

It was last summer and I was working for a company installing home security systems. I just finished one job and I got called up to do another job. The woman who gave me the call was from our office and did not work to try to disprove the 'dumb blonde theory' (though she was nice to look at). She was giving me directions to a location across town. She told me to go to the end of the street and turn left. I asked "Do I need to go north or south?" A logical question seeing as how there were streets on both ends of the street I was on. She answered "I don't know what way you're facing, so I don't know if it would be your north or my north."

I cussed her out for being retarded, she told me that she was my boss. I told her that was only because the manager of our office was her husband. I couldn't find that location, the manager gave that job to someone else, I got back to the office and was fired.

They got bought out and the company that bought them out needed techs, they gave them my name and number. The new company called me up offering $40-70k/year as a lead tech. I really don't want to go back into that line of work, so I said no.

Sign says clearance to the twelve-foot line, but the chickens was stacked to thirteen-nine. well we shot that tunnel at a hundred-and-ten, like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen, and we took that top row of chickens off slicker than the scum off a Lousiana swamp. Went down and around and around and down til we run outta ground at the edge of town. Bashed into the side of the feed store
In downtown Pagosa Springs.

/obscure?

There's a fantastic device that allows you to overcome problems with GPS, get advance warning of obstacles like low bridges, railway crossings and the like.

And, the beautiful part is, all cars already have these as standard!

They're called windows!

By merely taking advantage of the cutting edge transparency technology, one is able to easily observe these problems and devise avoidance strategies!

Amazing stuff.

Why don't they just shoot'em down? It's the latest craze!

Bartleby the Scrivener: what the modern, technological worlds needs is less satnav and more sherpas. road sherpas.

Road Sherpa, that's a great name for a new satnav system! It could speak with a Nepalese accent and have little sheep for icons. It'll make millions!

I've used a satnav twice in my life, and it actually did nothing but get me lost. I looked at a google map a day before I got where I was going, and that fragment of memory was what ended up getting me where I needed to be. Impressive technology, those satnavs. I can't believe people actually rely on them. Might as well say you need your SP1 Vista machine running to keep your heart beating.

What happened to learning the roads you're driving on? Ever noticed that as a passenger you can't really remember where you've just gone, because you weren't paying attention? The satnav makes you a passenger in your own car.

Moral of the story: If you're going somewhere new, get a map. You'll know the area in a week flat. Get a GPS, it'll take a year.

"impassable fords"???

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0014020/quotes (pops)
"TRON" QUOTES:

Dr. Walter Gibbs: Ha, ha. You've got to expect some static. After all, computers are just machines; they can't think.
Alan Bradley: Some programs will be thinking soon.
Dr. Walter Gibbs: Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop.

fat boy: Sign says clearance to the twelve-foot line, but the chickens was stacked to thirteen-nine. well we shot that tunnel at a hundred-and-ten, like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen, and we took that top row of chickens off slicker than the scum off a Lousiana swamp. Went down and around and around and down til we run outta ground at the edge of town. Bashed into the side of the feed store
In downtown Pagosa Springs.

/obscure?

/Cackling madly.
/Thank you

I've used a satnav a couple of times in my life, and it's totally saved me from getting hopelessly lost. The last time I had looked at a google map a day before I left for where I was going, but google was missing the minor fact that the exit it wanted me to take was closed due to construction. I took the next exit thinking it'd be close, but nope, it dropped me on some random freeway I've never heard of where we finally bailed in some obscure industrial part of town. I ended up completely lost, on a busy street at rush hour, in the driving rain, in a town I've never driven in (Portland) trying to get to an obscure address on a bunch of streets that all seemed to be missing their names, or when they had names the streets would split in two or randomly change to one-way or just stop for no damn reason. After getting spun around a couple a times, and while the person in the passenger seat was frantically trying to find where we on the map while I'm trying not to get us all killed and read the signs in the driving rain, the guy in the back seat with the satnav on his damn cell phone just turned it on, had me take a couple of turns that I only saw because he told me about them, and in a few minutes I was parked in front of where I needed to go.

Moral of the story: If you're going somewhere new, get a GPS, it'll save you from wasting an hour driving around in circles.

Why do I hear the Benny Hill theme when I read the headline.

Weaps:
But then again I know enough to not let it lead me to drive into a lake, unless I intend to.


But you were dumb enough to want to go to Walmart...

Dispector:

However, do trucking companies use a specialized navigation system focusing only on roads that have enough clearance for the rigs?

Any truckers here know?

You mean like EYES that can read signs that state the height of the bridge? If a computer told me to drive my 15 foot tall truck under a 13 foot bridge, I wouldn't do it.

My guess is the truckers who hit this have strayed from their designated course.

Dispector
However, do trucking companies use a specialized navigation system focusing only on roads that have enough clearance for the rigs?

Any truckers here know?

The trucking company I used to work for had directions for truck friendly routes, but the driver was responsible for ensuring it was correct. The company I work for now has navigation software that is not, we get low bridges, one way streets that go the wrong way, etc.
And if it doesn't know where something is it seems to just say, "Fark it" and send us off to the country.

ravenssettle: I can't stop giggling at the thought of trucks continuously driving into a bridge.

I have the image of the little Roomba-type floor cleaner from Idiocracy continuously running into the wall in mind.

Can't stop laughing. Truck sheared by bridge. Sixty two times.

Constance Velocity: Weaps:
But then again I know enough to not let it lead me to drive into a lake, unless I intend to.


But you were dumb enough to want to go to Walmart...

Ever been to West Virginia? The Walmart is pretty much all that's happening out there.

Bucky Katt: don't people use maps any more?

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the US should help the US, uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us.

Weaps: My nüvi speaks to me in a female british voice. I call her "Penelope", or "Penny" for short. Much more soothing than the biatchy female American voice.

Where i work we have one of those kodak picture maker kiosks, we keep it set on UK english because the british voice is much more pleasant than the american one. Although customers are sometimes confused by the "Colour Correction" option...

/and that it lists the standard size as 6x4
//"is that the same as a 4x6?"
///"its similar, but its a little taller, and not as wide."
////she still didnt get it...

/"15 years on the Erie Canal"
/some of these dumshiats today wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes

As a former truck driver who never actually "delivered" a bridge (as this type of accident was known), I saw it happen more than once and this was long before the days of GPS units available to the average joe. Usually just the natural result of inattention in an unfamiliar area.

I never really had any close calls but I did manage to sneak my 13' 6" trailer under a few 13' 6" bridges but I did it veeeeery slowly and not without a bit of sweat...

Oh and you can't always trust the damn height signs either. I've noticed it often takes a little bit between road resurfacing and sign replacement - on occasion months even.

/Question authority
//sometimes it works

EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

It's Skynet, attempting to kill off the humans one by one after it became self-aware!

///Wait till it directs a truck full of nuclear bombs into a bridge- then we'll all be farked!

////You might have noticed the subtle Terminator reference there...

Bashed into the side of the feed store
In downtown Pagosa Springs.

/obscure?

Nice..
Not even close to obscure.

What I do is this: Check the GPS's route against my MAP which will have have the height of any bridges on it.
While driving I read the plentiful and clear signposts advising me of max heights and weight restrictions and compare them to the mandatory notice in my cab which states the height of the truck.

/Differant EU states have differant levels of driving test difficulty despite that all our qualifications are suppposed to be equal.
//The British test is one of the most difficult.
///Bribery doesan't work here either.

FTFA:"Network Rail is testing a scheme in Swindon that may combat the problem. It uses laser sensors to detect the height of vehicles and lights up a message on a road sign if they are on a collision course."

I would have suggested a barrier like at railway crossings rather than another sign that people might ignore...

Oh sure, everybody is bad-mouthing the GPS systems, but you can't beat 'em for driving at night without headlights.