Navigating the Roadways as a Professional Truck Driver

Trucking requires many skills but one of the more important ones is being a good navigator. As a truck driver you are going to be required to go from point A to point B and most of the time the route is going to be left up to you. You cannot just fire up Google maps on your phone and use that when driving a big rig. You will need to plan your route either through your trucking GPS or a commercial carrier road atlas. If you decide to wing the trip without being familiar with the route you are asking for trouble. You always need to know where you are going, or you may wind up lost or even worse on a road where trucks are not allowed and that can cause a wide range of new issues.

Knowing How to Get There

In trucking not only do you have to know where you are going but how you plan to get there. This is an important skill and can mean the difference between running late and on time. What I usually do when I pick up a new load is look at the address given to me by my dispatcher or the one on the BOL and input this into my Garmin trucking GPS. This is the easy part. Next, I carefully look at the route to see if I am familiar with it or not. I also take note of any parts of the route that appear to shoot off of the interstate. Sometimes the GPS is not always right and will make mistakes and throw you off course. I have had this happen more than once. If you familiarize yourself with the route before you start driving, you will know in advance if it tries to throw you in the wrong direction which is not easy to determine when you are actually driving down the road in traffic.

The Modern Truck GPS

These days a lot of guess work is taken out of navigating a tractor-trailer through the nation’s highways. The reason for this is the most up to date GPS systems on the market designed for a truck have a lot of advanced features which will make your journey on the road go a lot smoother. Let us go over a few of these. When connected to the internet through your phone or Wi-Fi hotspot your GPS can alert you of live traffic reports and other various real time information. For instance, such as when a car was reported driving down the wrong side of the highway in your vicinity. Another really useful feature on a truck GPS is it will show you any upcoming truck stops and rest areas which can be especially useful when searching for a place to fuel or park. A trucking GPS will also give you advance notice of any weigh or inspection stations on your route. The one thing a GPS will not do however is always route you 100% correctly. Occasionally it will try to throw you down a road, bridge, or underpass with not enough clearance for a truck. You will know this when you see the warning signs or before you make the turn, look over, and notice that the road does not look fit for a semi-truck. These are the type of split-second decisions you have to make sometimes as a professional truck driver that can mean the difference of getting stuck on the wrong road with no way out, a ticket or even worse damage to your truck, a bridge or underpass. With proper trip planning you can help to eliminate most of these occurrences. If the road does not look like it is designed for a truck, it more than likely is not.

Finding the Shipper or Receiver is Only Half the Battle

So, you just drove three hundred miles and have arrived at the warehouse to drop off your freight. You immediately notice there are multiple entrances. As a truck driver you have to know the correct entrance to go in or you could get stuck and cause damage to trees, signs, or cars. Usually there will be a sign letting you know where the truck entrance is. But not all shipping facilities have one. Sometimes you can just follow the truck in front of you if it happens to be going to the same place. Other times you may have to just park on the side of the street and walk up to the building to determine where the best place to drive your truck in. Google maps can help a lot here by using the satellite view of the warehouse you are currently entering. Especially if it is a large facility. You will be able to determine the truck entrance usually by looking at the entire building and surrounding parking lots. A lot of drivers swear by using Google satellite view before going to the place they are picking up or delivering to. It gives a great orientation so when you drive up after a long day’s drive you will already know where to drive in with your truck.

Navigating Through Rush Hour

If your route for the day takes you through a major city with rush hour, it may be in your best interest to look for alternative routes. Sometimes there may be a route with less congestion that will save you time while also being a little less stressed out by all of the traffic. Be careful through of any alternate highways you take that may have any truck restrictions. In most cases numbered highways are a safe alternate route designed for commercial trucks and trailers. But you will still want to double check any road, bridge, weight, and height limits in your motor carriers’ road atlas. As a general rule you will always want to be traveling on a numbered highway whether it is an interstate, freeway, state road or country road. Other roads are more likely to have truck restrictions and not be designed to drive a large and heavy vehicle over.

Driving Around a Truck Stop

So, you just finished running 10 hours for the day and have your sights set on your final destination for the day which is a truck stop five miles up the road. When you finally arrive, you notice it is jam packed with trucks flying everywhere. How do you navigate around one safely? Slowly is the best way. Take your time and make sure you are always going in the truck entrance and out of the truck exit. There are usually signs for this. The first several times you try to park at a truck stop it is going to be stressful. And regardless of how much experience you have it is never fun. But you will get a lot more comfortable with it over time. When you drive around looking for a spot make sure you find one that has plenty of room for your truck and trailer to fit in. If it looks too tight see if another spot is open. I also do not recommend parking on an open end, or your truck has a high chance of getting swiped by another truck while it is turning. I have seen this happen more than once. Always park on the end by a curb or in between two trucks.

You Missed Your Turn

This happens more than you think. Sometimes those highway exit signs come in batches and the traffic is heavy and there is just no way for you to take the exit you were supposed to be on safely. In this case do not try to force it but drive to the next exit and turn around there. Other times you may be driving on city streets and miss a turn into the shipper or take a wrong street. If this happens and you have lost, your orientation take a look at your GPS and see how it wants to route you back. It will usually save you. Just make sure it is a truck GPS and not one for cars. Most of the time you will just have to take a long drive around several blocks to get back to point A and make the correct turn.

You Find Yourself on a Dead-End Road

I have done this once or twice. It happens. One time the dead-end road was in my GPS as the road that led up to the warehouse. But it was nothing but a dirt road that led nowhere. I should have known better than to turn down it to begin with, but it would not have been the first dirt road I have seen lead to a shipper. Luckily, there was a place to turn around so there was an easy out. Another time I drove down a dead-end road in a neighborhood that the GPS again put me down. When I got to the end there was no way to turn around. But it was 3 AM in the morning and there was no traffic. I was able to put my flashes on and back out slowly. These types of things will happen from time to time in trucking. The important thing is to not get all flustered and make the situation worse. Stay calm and think your way out of the situation slowly. Drivers tend to make more trouble for themselves when they panic. There may be times when you need to call for help but most of the time with a little ingenuity you can get yourself out of most jams.

Making U-Turns

The general rule with making a u turn in a semi-truck and trailer is not to do it. However, there will be times when you will have to make u turns. And there are times when it is safe to do so. Of course, you will need plenty of room to make it so make sure the room is there. Second there can be no traffic coming. If there is traffic do not even attempt, it. And third if it is at night avoid making a u turn at all costs because oncoming vehicles may have a hard time seeing your trailer during the turn and could collide with it. Just do not make u turns unless there is no other way and they are 100% safe to do.

Airplanes Have Navigators Why Not Trucks?

This is a good question. We drive an exceptionally large and heavy vehicle navigating around tight roads sometimes. We travel up to 70MPH in a constantly changing environment called the real world. I would even argue that we could use a full-time navigator sitting in the passenger seat helping to direct us along. There are many variables to get from point A in a truck to Point B. And this is just one extra skill that you need to master in the incredibly challenging profession of being a truck driver.