Has HAZMAT but doesn't need PLACARDS???

Whatever system Conway has for their HM, it is pretty good. I seldom find HM violations with them.

 

Thanks Scalemaster. It is nice that dieselbear and you chime in on these things. I get in more disagreements with drivers on the CB or at truck stopabout different things. Some one somewhere told a driver this or that and they believe it is gospel. Nice to be able to get the answer and get it right he first time.

 

You'll typically find many Con-way freight loads like that.
Being LTL, there may only be a few items that have hazmat.
Generally 1000#'s or less may not require placards.
CWF has a computer program that cross checks that stuff, but always a good idea to recheck yourself.
BTW, some battery loads, wet acid batteries such as car and truck type, although marked on bills hm, may not require the typical corrosive placards.
Shipper may even provide them, that is a exception to the rule.

 

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[TD="class: midtext"]This is not always true. I haul for a battery company and we carry permits to haul batteries Wet Filled with Acid, however as long as the trailer is all from one shipper(us, or whoever we picked up junk core return batteries from, we do not need to have placards. This doesn't mean we can haul that load without a hazmat endorcement though. If there is an X next to the product description, you do need to have Hazmat on your license. I can haul a full load to a customer and deliver a few skids and continue on my way un placarded then deliver a few more and do a pick up from them.....If I still have all pallets to deliver and I picked up like this, I now have to flip to corrosive placarding because now I am hauling for more than one shipper. If that is my only pick up, I can flip them back to blank again once I am back to just one shipper. Also, If we have any amount of acid packaged outside of the battery in a separate container(of any amount) we need to have placards. So, in our case, the amount of material doesn't not matter. Not sealed in the battery, we need them.

There are so many rules and regulations it is impossible to keep up with everything. My biggest thing is routing. I do not trust my company with routing that's for sure. What bothers me, if they make all of these restrictions of certain roads but they can't make a nice little map with the highlighted restricted routes......especially with todays technology. They want to make the rules, but can't give us a decent tool to follow them.

While I am here, I might as well ask a question myself. If the road is not clearly marked that it is restricted from Hazmat, and for instance, my GPS is going nuts after I don't listen to it and it says no hazmat in this route......is it restricted or is the GPS just using old data. I would imagine if the road is restricted for anything, it would have to be marked properly and communicate what is restricted and where. This happened to me going up I-295 around Providence RI. Said no Hazmat, but there is clearly no signs anywhere stating this. So all I has was one GPS going crazy telling me to get off the road right away. At the same time my other GPS was calm and didn't care. Both are set up with corrosive hazmat. This is one of the big reasons I use two GPS devices. Both are good at routing but here and there, one does better than the other and visa versa.

Both tried to route me onto I-90 in Ohio around Elyria to get to route 2 west towards Sandusky and I could clearly see the no Hazmat signs. So sometimes they both lead me down the wrong path....usually one figures out the best way though. I am new to long distance trucking so they are life savers when I use them together.

One more question I am trying to find out too before I shut up here. We use 46' Great Dane trailers....12'6" high 8' wide. Since I worked for this company we have always gone by a rule we called the bridge law, except it was not the a max. length but more the a min. length. I was taught by everybody there that we don't shrink the trailers less than the 6th hole to comply with bridge law. Until now I just went with it because I was only shuttle driving a short distance, but now that I am out on the road more, I was wondering if there is even such a regulation in existence? I know about the 40' CA rule and the 41' rule for most others and some that have none, but never seen a minimum length rule. I don't have to worry about the 40 or 41 foot law because we only have 46' trailers so we are legal no matter how far back we go. Hope you guys can help and I hope I helped clarify some things too.

Look forward to learning and helping here. ttyl
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As long as the provisions of 173.159(e) are met, this is true.

HM endorsement on CDL is ONLY required when hauling a load that REQUIRES placards. When a load does not require placards, the driver is not required an HM endorsement. (for instance when complying with 173.159 battery exemption)

383.93(b) Endorsement descriptions. An operator must obtain State-issued endorsements to his/her CDL to operate commercial motor vehicles which are:
(4) Used to transport hazardous materials as defined in § 383.5,

383.5 definition - Hazardous materials means any material that has been designated as hazardous under 49 U.S.C. 5103 and is required to be placarded under subpart F of 49 CFR part 172 or any quantity of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 CFR part 73.

 

I see. The key word in there was "and". If it said "or" I would have been correct. I have been very misinformed about several things I am sure, which is why I am glad I am checking into things more on here and of the federal regulations site.

We have special permits for hauling which I guess is why we still need hazmat. Carriers coming in and hauling for us still need to placard. So, in that sense, we are still required to have the endorsement because the load did require placarding if the permit was not in place.

Do you have any answers for my two questions? My thought process is if the road is not marked no trucks or no HazMat then I am allowed to use it, but I am not sure and definately was to be sure.

And since my company has not been acurate before I am sure they are not acurate about how far we can shrink our trailers. If you have the answers, please let me know. Thanks again

 

You can look up 'bridge law' online. It applies to Interstate highways, and is selectively enforced by the various states.

http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/publications/brdg_frm_wghts/index.htm

 

Collinl how come you said that you dont have to use placards on junk core wet acid
when the bill of landing states that is a hazmat load and requires placards?


Scalemaster when you have a load with wet acid batteries that on the bill says its an hazmat load with the specific code, the driver must have HM on his CDL ok, what about the company does need to have a permit for hauling hazmat loads or not?

Because what i see is that a lot of companies consider a wet acid batteries as non hazmat load?
i personally dont think that is right, lets read it from a master.