GPS on the Ambulance

I ride for 3 agencies (2 paid, one volunteer). All have GPS. Overall the gizmos are good but they do have limitations. In my hometown (volunteer), the machine does not pick up the satellites until we are about half a mile from quarters. In the paid systems they are helpful but they do cause you to take longer to learn the area. You become too reliant on the device. In my main job (Jersey City, NJ), I started long before the GPS was installed. We had to learn everything by maps and cross street books. I knew the city much better in 6 months than the new 6-monthers know it now. However I do find it useful to guide us to the right block since our CAD's cross streets are often wrong. As for the tough book terminals, we have a couple of units with those devices on a trial basis. They are good for dispatch but their routing information is hard to follow. The GPS is much easier to follow.
 
We have Tom Tom GPS'S on our rigs and they are super helpful but you still need to know where you are going because they have gotten me totally lost a few times as well.
 
My part time service has gps maps integrated into the MDT's in the trucks, which are fed off of the GIS data from the CAD. It is helpfull, but people rely too heavily on it, and screw themselves in the end.

My full time service does not have GPS in the trucks. Many of us who have our own Nav's will bring them to work for our use. However policy no longer allows us to use GPS units in the trucks. Our agency feels that it is simply one more unnessessary distraction to the driver, who is already overstimulated on the way to a call.

I agree. No GPS in the trucks.

Learn your district, and the districts around you . Learn to read a map.
 
firemedic7982 said:
My part time service has gps maps integrated into the MDT's in the trucks, which are fed off of the GIS data from the CAD. It is helpfull, but people rely too heavily on it, and screw themselves in the end.

My full time service does not have GPS in the trucks. Many of us who have our own Nav's will bring them to work for our use. However policy no longer allows us to use GPS units in the trucks. Our agency feels that it is simply one more unnessessary distraction to the driver, who is already overstimulated on the way to a call.

I agree. No GPS in the trucks.

Learn your district, and the districts around you . Learn to read a map.
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I definitely agree that GPS needs to be used cautiously if used on an ambulance. That said, it is useful if you're covering in a "large" district (600 sq miles of developed and contiguous suburban cities with over 20 hospitals in the area).

That said, there's nothing really that I can argue about with map reading. Thomas Guide, how art I love thy (I wasn't a humanities major in college for a reason).
 
Out of curiosity, wasn't the driver playing with an IPod and not a GPS? Was there new updates to this story?
 
yep, official investigation released that the driver was fooling around with a GPS and thought he saw a car merging into the lane in the corner of his eye.
 
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