Va requires Truck GPS

[Ford_man]

I just got my Landline mag, it says HB170 would require any commercial vehicle in excess of 26000LB to be equipped with a truck-specific GPS system for occasions the truck is operating on a roadway other than an interstate.

[Don P]

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB170+pdf

Interesting, I can think of 3 roads in the county that gps will send a truck to their doom on.

[Southside]

And when the GPS sends you into a low bridge, light bridge, etc who gets the ticket?  The GPS manufacturer?  So much for personal responsibility.....

[sawguy21]

Some suit is obviously not familiar with commercial vehicles or GPS and needs to consult the industry before tooting his horn. The system here at least does not indicate those hazards, it is only as good as the information entered

[WV Sawmiller]

   I always wonder if/when someone will come up with a Trucker's GPS. I drove OTR for a while and early in our trip planning class we were taught to plan our route then check the Trucker's manual for low bridges, HazMat restrictions, and such on the route and adjust accordingly if we found any. 

   When I read this I first thought the purpose of the requirement was a GPS device that could be used to track the truck's movements within the state and did not realize they were proposing the GPS was supposed to be routing the driver. I assumed that would allow the diesel cops to write tickets for truckers who had been on restricted routs or such just like they can write a speeding ticket based on a log book showing you traveled 200 miles in the last hour and half. :D We have friends come visit us here in WV and it often sends them on some real hairy rides along very scenic routes rather than the straight-forward ones we would have used.

[Southside]

Truck specific GPS units have been around for a while, but they are a tool, they can be wrong. 

[Tom the Sawyer]

Garmin makes a GPS for semi trucks.  Has routing preferences, bridge heights, grade, curve, bridge weight limit alerts, along with rest stops, truck-parking, scales, showers, etc.  

[Gary_C]

Both Garmin and Rand McNally make trucker specific GPS but both are plagued with poor ratings and performance plus they are high priced. 

I have used a car GPS on trips with the truck but you almost have to know the route ahead of time to stay out of trouble. So the routing info is poor and difficult to see ahead of trouble spots.

The only thing they are good at is giving you an estimated time of arrival at your destination.

[moodnacreek]

The more gadgets the more accidents. 

[SawyerTed]

Probably a strong GPS manufacturer lobby is pushing it or a member of the General Assembly lives on a restricted road and is tired of meeting commercial trucks.

[woodmaker]

I am the last house on a road that used to continue into the next town ,but has been "given up" by the town ( class 6)  and has had no repairs for at least the last 40 years. Between the  frost pushing rocks up,and the water washing dirt away from them, there are many rocks that stick up over a foot, yet several times a year,some idiot will drive his Impala, camry, maxima,over/around these rocks until they high center and cant move , then they walk back to my house to see if I will pull them out, because their g.p.s.said the road went through.
 A g.p.s. is only as good as the user 

[Don P]

I'm so new to this my cdl is still paper :D. I've been setting up an account with a company that must be related to Winona. I just got the ELD login stuff and am reading through it. So my understanding is that from the feds you're supposed to be using an ELD and they are already gps'ed and tracking your every move. If I'm understanding that right this bill is redundant isn't it?

[btulloh]

The underlying agenda is to instate a per-actual-mile road tax.  We're standing at the very top of a slippery slope, and  they're trying to place a strategic banana peel.  After that tax on commercial travel becomes reality, the next step is non-commercial vehicles.

[LogPup]

DonP, Yes everyone has to have an ELD.  They have the to GPS to track your vehicle.  I don't know if all the new ELD's have a GPS mapping program.
The ones I have seen are garbage.  I did household moving for over 35 years which means I ran off route all the time.  The best thing I used was an
Ipad with a mapping program and satellite/aerial.  Also had a truckers Rand McNally listing weight restricted routes and low bridges.
     Before that I had a box with over 100 Paper maps that I carried.  Most of it comes down to common sense.  If in doubt call the locale PD.  They would rather help you then have to get you backed out a country rd or city street. 
David

[LogPup]

btulloh,  They already do. Before you had a sticker or plate for each state you ran in. Now you have an IFTA sticker for those states.  You still haft to report your miles.  With the ELD's it is all done electronically, to the tenth of a mile.   A good DOT man can look at your bills and pretty well know what your mileage should be.  
David

[Southside]

Mind you here in Virginiastan these fools are the same ones who say you can't use your phone GPS in your mini van  because it's too dangerous, but GPS in a tractor trailer, must have that...

[clww]

I have used a Rand McNally 740 trucker GPS for the past two plus years, ever since it came out. This was the replacement for my 730. After traveling four years and a half million miles through all of the lower 48 and five Canadian Provinces, I've never topped a trailer with a low bridge. The RM motor carriers atlas version lists 99% of all low bridges anyway.
Any driver that hits a low bridge has themselves to blame.

[Don P]

We were training mostly with a flatbed, at one point I passed under one of those pretty stone arch bridges carrying the Blue Ridge Parkway. The instructor asked "how high was that bridge?" Gulp, "I don't know" "13-7, and they repaved under it not too long ago, don't trust the signs, the road is cambered and its an arch, watch your box corner on those".

I'm still reading the manual on the ELD, electronic logging device, it looks like the mandantory functions are the hours of service and fueling for DOT, the gps functions and all the engine and driving functions can be on or off depending on the fleet manager. The gps mapping takes care of IFTA fuel tax apportionment though. This one is set up to include electric vehicles which I think is part of what is going to change in the future. Its about going to have to change to tax per mile instead of apportioned tax per gallon.

Which leads to a question ???. If I buy fuel in my state with a lower tax and travel into NC which has a higher fuel tax, when they go to apportion the fuel tax to each state travelled through, who pays the difference, where does that extra fuel tax money come from?

[Gary_C]

Don, the extra money comes from you when you fill out your IFTA report. When you report you have to report miles driven in each state times the tax rate in that state which gives you the tax you owe. Then you get credit for the tax you paid when you bought fuel and the difference is what you pay or get back if in the unlikely event you paid more than you owe.

Convicted sex offenders do NOT have as many reporting obligations as commercial vehicle drivers.

[Skip]

The first thing they should teach in truck driver school is how to read a map, the second thing is NEVER trust a GPS . :P

[Ianab]

The first thing they should teach in truck driver school is how to read a map, the second thing is NEVER trust a GPS . :P

Arguably true. But I use the GPS function on my phone AS a map, not for turn by turn instructions. Thing with paper maps is they can be wrong too, and quickly out of date. Heck every time we go to Auckland the road there has changed, there's a new section of expressway or motorway to navigate. The maps on the GPS is pretty much updated, my older paper maps? Pretty much useless.
Advantage of a GPS is that it tells you where you actually are on the map. A paper map can show you the start and finish point, but not where YOU actually are.