Truckers GPS

[CDL holder]

Originally Posted by brigpilgrim

I would rather have an alarm clock than a GPS. When you are running down I-80 from California to Chicago, you set your alarm for 8 am on Tuesday so you know it's time to turn left.

Here is a cut from a story about a fatal truck wreck in Wisconsin. The fact that they can use GPS data in trials is enough to keep one out of my truck.

<<
W....s said GPS data showed that K...i, who made the Munster, Ind. to St. Paul, Minn. route three times a week, had returned from a delivery at 8:45 p.m. Friday night.

By 11:30 p.m. Kozlowski is alleged to have been at a bar in Indiana where he met up with Michelle K...e.>>>

Chippewa.com

The article does not further describe the GPS data. My guess is that his truck is installed with a company GPS device such as Qualcomm. Consumer GPS units do not save data like the company GPS units do.

[brigpilgrim]

Originally Posted by CDL holder

The article does not further describe the GPS data. My guess is that his truck is installed with a company GPS device such as Qualcomm. Consumer GPS units do not save data like the company GPS units do.

I just did a search for GPS, forensics and found a lot of websites for law enforcement that tell about getting data from consumer GPS units. Here is a short cut from one.

<>

Computer Forensics - TomTom GPS Device Forensics

I agree with you they didn't say what kind of GPS it was. But I still am wary of GPS systems in trucks. Cell phones, computers and GPS's are becoming more common in trucks. Law enforcement has a lot more tools available to look at all these things after a crash. It has come a long way from the days of comparing your fuel receipts to your log book to see if you were behaving and getting lots of rest. If we all lived in a perfect world we wouldn't have anything to worry about. But if we all lived in a perfect world, we wouldn't have wrecks and people getting killed out on the highway. We just do the best we can.

[RickyRicardo]

Originally Posted by brigpilgrim

Law enforcement has a lot more tools available to look at all these things after a crash. It has come a long way from the days of comparing your fuel receipts to your log book to see if you were behaving and getting lots of rest.

That is the perfect argument for eliminating the antiquated log book.
In the event of a serious crash, especially involving loss of life, no stone will be left unturned to retrace the previous days of that trucks journey, regardless of the lines drawn in that book.

It only provides the basis for an additional charge of falsifying something that they don't believe anyway.

[brigpilgrim]

Originally Posted by RickyRicardo

That is the perfect argument for eliminating the antiquated log book.

I am with you there. In Europe there are recorders in the trucks and and transponders that tell when you are passing check points on the roads. The speed limits are enforced by cameras. I believe a better recording system would be a good thing.

I would like to see everyone go by the book and companies pay drivers a living wage so they don't need to run outside the law to make a dollar.

But the original question was about GPS. And a common thread is that if you run one, there are risks you have to take into consideration.

[RickyRicardo]

Ones background and experience level must be taken into consideration.
I started with an atlas, paper city maps, a CB radio, and if you were lucky, access to a payphone. I think that kind of experience hones ones instincts somehow.
After enough experience, it becomes possible to recognize residential areas on a city map by the street patterns and sometime the names of the streets themselves.
The telephone used to be the failsafe method, but after running LA enough years, I began noticing more and more being unable to always locate an English speaking person at the customer.
GPS, Qualcomm, Mapquest are all useful tools, but it still comes down to getting from point A to point B.
Technology may have changed, but a rookie driver today faces the same challenges of a rookie 50 years ago.
Todays driver may have more tools at his disposal, but he must still learn his craft the old fashioned way, by making mistakes and learning from them.

[trucker3573]

wow....I hate to add too the useless bull in this thread but the man wanted to know about the pc miler all in one gps unit.......not a million opinions on wether to have a god damn gps in the first place.....