In city jobs, map checks aren't always key. Old records can be wrong, so trusting them too much causes problems. Sometimes local knowledge works better.
Seriously, how often do wrong maps actually cause a real mess? Most of the time someone fixes it before it gets bad. People make this sound way worse than it is.
Totally agree with @jessica_cooper37 about old records being wrong. We hit a buried phone line last year because the city map was off by ten feet. The crew foreman actually knew about it from a job years back, so now we always ask the old timers on site before we dig.