1 year of POI excellence and low clearance avoidance.

Trooper-D

Member
One year ago after seeing a horrible bridge collision I decided to investigate
low clearance avoidance tools. After a great deal of searching, by far the
most cost effective solution was to download a low clearance POI
database for my GPS.

There were a few free ones out there to download but they were very limited
in size (around 300 - 500) which isn't much use so I figured I would risk 20 bucks
and get a professionally made one which had over 3000 low clearance alerts.

I've been so impressed with it that I made several positive comments on quite a
few forums in the hope that other drivers will follow suit and avoid these
potentially fatal accidents.

If you're interested (and you really should be) you can get it from
http://www.lowclearances.com . I use a Garmin but you can also install it on
MS Streets & Trips, Delorme Street Atlas, Google Earth, TomTom, and Navman.


Safe driving.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
HI Trooper-D,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and maybe at some point the owners family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

Thanks for the link to the low clearance site... it should be useful to all.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
Funny you mention it, today I was talking about this very subject and my neighbor told me that in the new next exit book it has all the low bridges in the U.S. I haven't seen it though. Good information to have on hand
 

debh

Member
i have the rand mcnally laminated motor carrier road atlas. its geared for professional truck drivers but has a wealth of info available in it including low bridge clearances, low weight limits, hazmat restrictions (yes, sometimes the propane tanks count. 95 in baltimore thru the harbor tunnels is one of them) along with all the state police phone #s, construction alert #s, general info #s for each state, etc etc.

you can get one at any truckstop. they have the regular book style that runs about $14, laminated spiral bound that runs about $25 if you get it on sale and a LARGE PRINT spiral bound laminated version that runs about $50 on sale.

i highly reccomened these!! all road restrictions are listed in the back by state. just look up the states youd be traveling thru and look down the list to see if a road youll be on is listed with any restrictions.

this of course doesnt take away from using common sense and watching for posted signs. roads can be repaved and actually change the clearance be several inches and then they dont bother to change the sign. as a general rule i always assume there is a few less inches than stated. reality is there is usually more. if ever in doubt, get behind a tractor trailer. if he fits, youll fit!

gps units are also not totally reliable. i use a garmin nuvi 465 made for trucks. (i drive a truck for a living). i find this is soooo wrong at times trying to send me down roads i KNOW im not allowed on and other times tells me trucks are not allowed on certain roads when its a common truck route!

be careful and be safe. use common sense and always look up! if in doubt, find another way! NEVER PUT ALL TRUST INTO A GPS!
 
Thanks Trooper D, as a former truck driver and still an rv owner we appreciate the site and already downloaded the clearances.
 

Kurt

Kurt&Gwen
Trooper D,
Thanks for taking the time to share this important information. Because we have a 5ver that's over 13ft high, I cringe anytime we pass under anything. Having this info will greatly relieve that stress and make traveling safer for all.

I plan on down loading the software this week for our Garmin nuvi and will keep everyone posted on our results.
 
Where did you save the poi database to? I am having trouble with the POI loader locating the file for upload to my Garmin.
 

branson4020

Icantre Member
Where did you save the poi database to? I am having trouble with the POI loader locating the file for upload to my Garmin.

Doesn't matter where you put the poi file. Just create a folder, name it whatever you like. Copy the poi file you want to use from the route-1-garmin.zip folder to the folder you created. When you run the loader, it will let you browse to the folder you created.
 
Top