Electronic devices keep improving. We trust them more and more. I have been guilty of trusting them a little too much a time or two. Just last week, I typed an address into my truck navigation as I left the .JPG.aspx?width=250&height=186)
shipper in Chillicothe, OH. The consignee was in Appleton, WI. It was a consignee that I had been to before. I am in the habit of always programming my device. It was borderline, if I could make it before I needed to take a 10 hour break.
The customer was on Commerce and I knew that I could camp there overnight. There is a convenience store within walking distance. It is rare that I sleep past 06:00 and my appointment was not until 08:00. That meant that when I woke up, I could walk over and get a nice fresh cup of coffee. It looked like I would arrive shortly before 22:00. It was a good plan.
In this case I did not double check my routing. The basic routing is not complicated, and I have take that route too many times to count. When I am not familiar with the long view of the route, I still pull out my trusty road atlas. I scan the routing the same way that I have been doing it for the last 29 years. I run the route with my fingers over the map and then check the pages for low bridges and weight limits.
It is also a good idea to check out a satellite map. It is not that unusual to have the mailing address in
the front of the building and the loading docks in the back on a different street. In that case it may be easier to come in to the loading docks a different way than you would, the front door. Taking the extra minute or two to verify can be a lot simpler than getting your rig turned around.
This day, I did not even notice an issue until I was north of Milwaukee and coming up I41. My TND was telling me to come in off of exit 142. I had always come in off of exit 139 – 3 miles sooner. My first thought was maybe it knew a better way. Except that I remember that just north of my turn off was a no truck sign. That convinced me to just go in the way that I knew and check out the other route in the morning.
As I pulled up to my customer my device was saying that I was still 5.3 miles away. So, I double checked the address. When Commerce in Appleton came up, I just tapped on it. Turns out that this time, it was my fault. The address inputted was Commerce Court. The actual address was Commerce Drive.