There are a lot of tools today which weren’t available to us in the past. Even in the “good ole days”, the Citizen Band Radio (CB) was not reliable and at times there were so many people talking it was hard to get good information about the road ahead.
Today there are many apps available to know when trouble is ahead. Two of them that I like to use are Googles Maps and Waze. I simply enter my destination and I am able to see if there is a traffic problem or other hazards ahead slowing down traffic. I use these two apps on a regular basis for knowledge of the road conditions ahead, remember these are not truck friendly apps. I use my truck friendly GPS to route me from my pick up to the destination. Something that is a new habit for me is to is to look ahead on my route when I am stopped for a break. Often times if I see a delay I am able to make an effective detour far in advance and my GPS is my back up to make sure I am on a truck friendly road. Nothing replaces my ability to look out the windshield and see what is ahead of me.
I have not let these apps replace my CB even though I get very little information across the air these days. Keep in mind you can’t be touching your phone and must have the phone mounted and used as a GPS to be legal while traveling down the highway. More than once I have seen a pop-up alert and warning which informed me that traffic was stopped just over a hill, so there is a safety aspect to using these apps as well. I would find it interesting how many of you use these or other apps to make your business safe, efficient, and profitable.