Truckers without their CB's?

[givenrfarm]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/ ... radio.html

I don't believe for a moment that talking on a CB radio is going to cause distraction for a trucker. I've been there, done that, and still do, use a CB in my truck.

I've used it to tell other drivers that there's a wreck up ahead, a cop hiding under the overpass, a chain-up light on... I've even used it to say there is a bear (the furry kind) sitting in the middle of the lane. My CB has told me that there is an accident on the Coquihalla, that I should take the Canyon. It's told me that I had no lights working on my trailer all of a sudden. It's piped up that the cops would surely like our help slowing down a chase outside LA (one of the coolest things I ever saw on the highway, and no, I didn't get to see the arrest) My CB has talked to me when I've been way to tired to keep going, yet there's been no place to pull off the road. My CB has kept me laughing at jokes of all sorts of colour when my crappy truck driving life got me down. My CB kept me sane and from running over silly 4-wheelers when they pulled out in front of me because they were too busy texting and somehow managed not to see all 100,000 pounds of me barreling toward them. My CB even told me that my friends were with me even though I had just drove by the place my spouse lost his life on the highway.

CB's don't distract. They help. Sure, drivers chat on them all the time. But we don't need to dial a number. We don't need to look for the phone that's fallen off the seat or dash. We don't need to read the screen to see what the other person is saying. Unlike a converasation with a passenger, we don't need to take our eyes off the road.

Take away our CB's, and you will find more drivers turning to cell phones, hitch hikers, and truck stops a whole lot more. A human isn't meant to sit in a 8x10 foot box for hours on end in solitude. That's what prisons are for.

I would like to know where just one time, a trucker caused, or was involved in an accident or incedent because he/she used their CB. I've never heard of it. And believe me... Truckers are more gossipy than horse people and that's saying something.

[Amarow121]

I notice that emergency workers (firefighters, Paramedics and RCMP/Police) are going to be exempt from this law.

That doesn't make any sense to me. What makes emergency workers better at talking on their radios while driving than Truck drivers?

It does make me wonder if there's a reason behind this or if it's just paper pushers somewhere trying to add to the cellphone ban going on.

[Relentless]

I notice that emergency workers (firefighters, Paramedics and RCMP/Police) are going to be exempt from this law.

That doesn't make any sense to me. What makes emergency workers better at talking on their radios while driving than Truck drivers?

Communication is part of their job discription, they won't be abusing or needlessly using handheld devices like millions of others, plain and simple.
You get it, you just don't like it that they can and you cant.

[givenrfarm]

I notice that emergency workers (firefighters, Paramedics and RCMP/Police) are going to be exempt from this law.

That doesn't make any sense to me. What makes emergency workers better at talking on their radios while driving than Truck drivers?

Communication is part of their job discription, they won't be abusing or needlessly using handheld devices like millions of others, plain and simple.
You get it, you just don't like it that they can and you cant.

Ok, you live in a truck without a human for one week. One week without talking to people, interacting with people, or doing things like going to malls, going to parks, going to social places. Now take away your cell phone because you can't afford it when you are driving a truck. Take away your tv, because there isn't cable in a truck. Take away your back yard garden or your kids, or pretty well anyone you know as a friend. Now drive that truck with 100% of your attention on the road. Don't think about all the stuff you are missing. Don't think about the kids you aren't tucking in tonight. Don't think about anything but that road. How long will you last until you drive off that cliff? Face it. Humans aren't solidary creatures. My guess is that 'lot lizards' are so busy not because truckers are THAT pathetic and desperate, it's because they go insane alone.

You would not believe me if I told you, but I met a good friend on the CB. At the border. He's a DOT in Montana. Not all law enforcement use their CB's for clerical crap. Some of them like a friendly hello too. Go figure.

[dirtybiker]

Thanks Givener for posting this.

WOW, just read through some of the comments from the link...are people really that ...uhhh,, can't even find the right word for it..

Gov't pencil pushers just don't get it..only a fraction of the regs. that have been dreamed up over the last ..say 30 yrs,(since I started my career) have done one thing in the terms of safety, yes, there have been some good initiatives implemented, that have been benefitial, but for the most part all they have done is call it "in the name of safety" but have skirted around the true issue.. Other road users not understanding just how a rig works, its capabilities, the room that is required to do any particular manouver.

It is my belief that everone that wants to use the roads, no matter what their vehicle of choice, should have to go through hands on, real life, practical training for all vehicles, motorcycles, cars, buses,and combination vehicles. Once you have succesfully comleted all of these, now you can start your graduated licencing, from the basement..Too many people are ill qualified to actually hold the licence they were handed.. That to me "is" the gov't fault.

This is the only way IMO that you can truly address safety issues of the road.
TOPIC:
A CB or VHF radio assists you through more miles and conditions than any stereo ever could.

They are a safety feature, be it for road conditions, vehicle conditions, road info, how to approach a destination that may be unfamiliar, or just plain old human contact on a long and lonely road.

No one is more qualified to operate a CB or VHF than the men and women that ply their trade on the roads..

-db

[givenrfarm]

Hey DB... Did we actually finally agree on something? Glad to see I'm not the only one thoroughly opposed to the changes the Alberta government wants to happen. And how could they possibly ever enforce something so idiotic? Pull over ever truck to see it the operator talked on his radio? That's safe. Let's put a cop balanced on a step box, hanging off the side of a semi, on the shoulder, of a highway. Wonder how many lives that alone will take. Tell ya, I'm glad I'm not running anymore. I see enough scary things in my "mid-life crisis house-wife with a horse trailer" sect than I care to as it is. Better training, licensing, and education is a better idea than taking away the safety and comfort features people already have. Simple.

[Amarow121]

I notice that emergency workers (firefighters, Paramedics and RCMP/Police) are going to be exempt from this law.

That doesn't make any sense to me. What makes emergency workers better at talking on their radios while driving than Truck drivers?

Communication is part of their job discription, they won't be abusing or needlessly using handheld devices like millions of others, plain and simple.
You get it, you just don't like it that they can and you cant.

I both get it and don't get it.

It's true that radio communication is an important part of being an effective first responder service. It's pretty hard to dispatch the closest car when no one knows where they are! So yes, emergency workers need to be on the radio, that's a given.

What I get confused about is the assumption that this law is being put into place as a safety law, like seatbelts. Why do we need to be worried about people on radios though? Especially truckers? And if we need to be worried about people on radios, why are emergency workers any different? How can it be that radios are a dangerous distraction in the hands of most people but not in the hands of drivers in ambulances, firetrucks and police cars? Will emergency workers be given special training that will prevent them from being dangerously distracted?

It's because of that exception that I am suspicious that it's just mindless pencil pushing and not a real threat being averted by legislation.

What do you figure?

[dirtybiker]

If everyone obeyed every law, the business of law enforcement would go broke, therefore, new laws that have no real meaning are implemented ,on a regular basis, so that the powers that be can smoke screen society for the purpose of justifiing their own positions.

There is no money in criminal investigation..The money lies in infraction tickets..The largest target of this is the transportation industry.

-db

[Tacklewasher]

I doubt this will be enforced on truckers, at least not out of town.

I would be concerned if they are chatting on the cb while driving in city limits, but not so concerned once they are on the highway. And I hope the enforcement would follow that pattern.

This isn't like texting where they have to take their eyes off the road to chat.

[dirtybiker]

An update: My take on it is that truckers in the course of their duties, Are exempt, since they are using the radio while performing the duties they were hired to do. Driving a truck.


http://www.trucknews.com/issues/story.a ... 20Archives

I'm guessing a person needs to carry this article, which includes the interpretations of a rather vague law, with plenty of open ends, Why do they even bother???

More justifying of a job. Can't use existing unenforced laws, must make new laws to be left unenforced!!!!

-db

ETA; spelling

[dirtybiker]

And yet one more good article.

http://blogtn.trucknews.com/2011/01/han ... ebacle.htm


-db

[ILBT uh-huh]

A spend a fair bit of time in the woods, so I use my scanner frequently, just so I don't get squished by a logging truck.
I also have a CB, but the only time I use it is on the weekends when I am with a large group of 4x4s. I see how practicle a CB is in the woods for road conditions etc.
If the first person in the line hits a dead end, they can radio back and stop traffic and get everybody turning around. The same if somebody in the convoy gets a flat tire and you're spread out over a half mile of bush road. The guy in the back radios ahead and stops the group.

I'm sure the same practicality applies to the truckers, and to a larger extent than a bunch of weekend explorers. I would consider the CB a safety feature for a trucker, equivalent to marker lights and 4 way flashers. It should be a mandatory item for them.

And please people, give the truckers some room on the highway. That's not a sportscar they're driving.

[Static]

What about the police who type while driving?

[Tacklewasher]

What about the police who type while driving?

They drive me to drink.