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Momof2DFW; True story- I stopped to talk to my fleet manager when a load brought me past my company's headquarters one June day. I sat down next to my VERY busy Fleet Manager as she answered call after call. During one call, I looked over at the young man working in the cubicle next to her. I heard him talking about an email he'd just recieved from a driver. The driver was hauling a load from Richmond, VA to Denver, CO. He pulled out his folding Rand McNally Map of the United States and I heard him say: "I-70 is a restricted route, so I'd better route him across I-80" Our company will not route drivers west of Denver on I-70 in the WINTER. But this was July and he was not hauling a HAZMAT load...
LOL!!!!! Sad, very sad. Even worse......... the worst weather conditions that I've ever experienced were on I-70 but IN KANSAS! The highway in Colorado all the way to Glenwood Springs was clear. I'm guessing he did not know what "restricted" meant. I hope the driver on the other end actually knew that I-70 was the better route? Yet, he was emailing someone else for directions....... You know the old saying, "the blind leading the blind".
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Originally Posted by Crew Chief
I'm appalled at the lack of map-reading skills we Americans have... Even truck drivers don't do the proper trip planning they should. I've always enjoyed looking at maps and, as a kid, I dreamed of visiting the faraway places I'd visit when I was grown. If I had a dollar for averey car that passes my truck where the passenger has an AAA Trip-Pak, I'd be rich!
I'll join you on that, Crew Chief. I've always loved reading maps since childhood, and it's practically an addiction for me. The problem is that people in our nation don't think anything's relevant to them anymore, and they don't feel the need. There's nothing wrong with people helping others, don't get me wrong, but there is something big-time wrong with the attitudes of so many Americans that one has to wonder "How in the heck can they survive while being content with knowing less?". We've got lots of great places to see in our great land. What a tragedy that people miss out on great things when they can't even discover them for themselves.
First, bad English skills, and now, poor geographical knowledge. Welcome to America.
Europe isn't any better. Last time I was there almost every car had an in-dash GPS. We in the US are still in the new toy phase. Soon paper map usage will be as common as using a VCR (try to go find a new one w/o a DVD built in).
My passion as a teen was to spend hours browsing the gorgeous National Geographic World Atlas and I'm still much engrossed in maps and atlases.
However the modern technology like GPS /satnav leaves me cold, I'd rather use a good old fashioned compass indicating the directions : N-S-E-W, as long as you know how to read Latitudes/Longitudes it's a tremendous help in orientation.
Its because some people in this country don't have maps such as south Africa, the Iraq, such as and we should help the south African countries and the Iraq so we can build a better future.
Need proof that we Americans need help with maps? On Westbound I-70 just west of Frederick, MD is a sign:
"The next exit is MD 66. For I-66, stay on I-70"
Speaking of needing help with maps, it's actually MD 68 and I-68.
Just kidding about the "needing help", of course.
The sign is right before exit 18 going westbound on I-70, and I've often thought the same thing as you. Do people really not understand the difference between interstate and state routes? The interstate sign is so distinctive in color and shape.
Then again, most states do not duplicate route numbers. For instance, if I-95 and US 1 go through a state, that state will usually not have a "State Route 95" or "State Route 1".
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