Following your GPS

Lin · March 11, 2013, 10:15:05 AM

http://newyork.newsday.com/news/region-state/sen-charles-schumer-unveils-new-rules-to-curb-bridge-strikes-1.4791049?qr=1

Len Silva · March 11, 2013, 10:24:15 AM

When people fail to police themselves, the government must step in to do it for them.

Lin · March 11, 2013, 04:47:36 PM

Having grown up in NY, we were aware that certain roads were not open to commercial traffic or larger vehicles. I would think that any of us traveling in our buses an unknown area could be to disaster by our GPS. If using regular automotive GPS, as I'm sure most of us do, we should probably be careful in some areas of the country.

Len, I like your motto line. Do you think that Russell was certain about that?

Len Silva · March 12, 2013, 06:33:29 AM

I think that Russel was very certain that he was possibly right.

lostagain · March 12, 2013, 07:01:02 AM

Never mind the GPS, just pay attention and watch where you are going. Driving is a full time job.

JC

Mex-Busnut · March 12, 2013, 07:10:57 AM

And how many bus owners know the REAL height of their bus? After they have installed roof air and other options on the roofline?

lostagain · March 12, 2013, 07:14:02 AM

I have the height of my bus in feet and meters, and the weight in pounds and kilos on printed stickers on the dash right in front of me.

JC

John316 · March 12, 2013, 07:58:42 AM

Quote from: Mex-Busnut on March 12, 2013, 07:10:57 AM
And how many bus owners know the REAL height of their bus? After they have installed roof air and other options on the roofline?

13'3". If a semi can go, so can we....

Scott & Heather · March 12, 2013, 09:39:54 AM

12' 7" 30,000 lbs. yep we know. But I'm nervous about doing this someday. Or hitting a low telephone wire or something silly like that.

Sent from iPhone via Tapatalk

Lin · March 12, 2013, 09:52:11 AM

I have not yet hit anything with the bus's roof, but did once crushed a roof pod in my first motorhome with a tree limb. Other things to watch are street signs that extend into the street (met one of those once). You can also be surprised by the slope of the road. A road we were on once in that motorhome sloped in such a way that we were actually riding angled toward the curb. We caught the awing on a telephone pole that was leaning into the road. Fortunately, the telephone company agreed and paid for most of the repair. They, of course, did not fix the pole.

bobofthenorth · March 12, 2013, 10:01:34 AM

GPS is wonderful but the basemaps aren't always perfect. Several years ago we let Streets and Trips guide us out of Castlegar, BC. It didn't look good but the computer seemed certain so we kept following it right up to the dead end in the attached photo. The guy with the nice paved driveway next to the turnaround came flying out of his house "you got one of those GPS things?" "Yep" "They're wrong". I guess truckers routinely ended up in the same spot. Then he launched into a tirade about how I wasn't to try turning around on his driveway because it was a thin membrane ..... yadda yadda yadda. I assured him that as soon as we got the Exploder unhooked we would back out. On the other hand, when they work they are wonderful. Google maps on my Android is my absolute favorite and most used app. Its a rare day I don't use it for something, usually to find the closest Wallyworld or Home Depot or Starbucks or whatever.

gus · March 12, 2013, 04:08:35 PM

Yep, GPS shows some really stupid things but that doesn't mean the user has to do the same thing.

I shut off the audio on mine because it is obnoxious.

somewhereinusa · March 13, 2013, 06:16:09 AM

You do have to pay attention.
Here's a screen shot of my GPS that wanted me to continue straight ahead.

This is one where I had avoid tolls enabled. I was somewhere in DE and going about 100 miles into NY.

buswarrior · March 13, 2013, 07:37:53 AM

In the same way that you can't just hand a mapbook to some random person and tell them to follow the lines...

Expecting a GPS to be any smarter than a mapbook is folly.

Eyes and, more importantly, BRAIN, needs to be focused out the windshield, not on that little screen.

Way too easy for your thoughts and attention to be inside the vehicle while the big road sign goes by with important info on it that you really wanted to know...

An excellent tool for assisting navigation, but there still needs to be a human navigator interpreting the suggested path of travel. And a fully aware driver, making passage safely.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

Len Silva · March 13, 2013, 08:22:30 AM

The problem is that the GPS is absolutely right so much of the time that we get complacent and dependent.