Click through the image to read the September post that began the conversation among Overdrive readers on GPS/clearance-sign problems.I read your article about Senator Chuck Schumer and his opinions on truck GPS systems in the December issue of Overdrive. Needless to say, that article upset many drivers. The issue with the false clearance heights is no longer a small one. Drivers as well as anyone associated with truck driving should not keep silent on this matter. It affects transport companies, shippers and receivers, the residents of New York City and everyone who lives near it, like me. It also affect the drivers, like me, who know that driving a tractor-trailer in NYC is like navigating a mine field. And whether you use one GPS or several at once, it’s still a nightmare. I have written Senator Schumer an e-mail expressing my concerns and sharing my thoughts on some improvements that I believe would lessen the headache for NYC and for drivers who are making deliveries and/or pick-ups there. I haven’t received a response yet, but I am going to continue sending him emails in order to get his attention. If he truly is concerned about trucks hitting low clearances and this isn’t just some scheme to dip into the driver’s pocket, he will want to listen to what I have to say, especially because fewer and fewer drivers are willing to go to NYC. A time will come when it will be hard for NYC to get freight in and out.
If others stand with me on this pressing issue, we can force the city officials to make some kind of realistic change that would benefit both the state of New York and the truck drivers. And like I said earlier, this issue has gone beyond the concerns of just truck drivers. This issue should be everyone’s problem: shippers and receivers because they can’t get freight in and out; transport companies because of the costs on repairs and the few drivers willing to go to NYC; and the residents of NYC, who are delayed in traffic from tractor-trailers hitting low clearances or blocking traffic to check a mislabeled clearance.
–William Smith, Clementon, N.J.
