Is this placard illegal?

I did not read all the posting ( just got home, too tired) but placards cannot be changed or adapted in way or form. In other words it must be the proper placard to start with. Rolling across a scale, if your not stopped it might pass. But under a closer inspection you are BUSTED.
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I amazed at how many drivers improperly placard their trailers , duct tape, too close to other lettering, not on point, etc. I take pride in my csa score and do need thousands of dollars in fines over placards.

 

Read the regs.

 

Yeah they carry a handful and I've seen blanks like that where you write the UN in and then duct tape it to your trailer. They are either near the logbooks or by the wide load accessories.

The original driver should of got them from the shipper. He's the one that started the mess.

The hazmat rules can be a difficult subject. But it's a drivers responsibility if he doesn't know something that he is suppose to find out. Talk to the shipper. Talk with your safety man. If the safety man gives you false info, then paying a fine is on him.

There's a lot of drivers out there that don't pull a hazmat load but once a year from a broker or such. They do some head scratching. Someone that hauls hazmat regularly is more up to par. All I can say is read and ask questions! Hazmat fines are nothing to fool with.

My last company it was a requirement to call safety and go over everything before you moved. That's a good strategy if they safety guy knows what he is doing.

 

We have a forummember who runs a state scale.
I posted a link and asked his opinion on this subject.
Will be interesthing to hear his answer.

 

A quick google search for "UN 2801 Placard" turns up these as acceptable to use. If you need to have the UN number on the placard, the blank (in which case you'd write in the UN number with a marker) or the 4-digit placard would be what you'd need to have. The placard your pic is showing looks similar to the "blank" placard....except the "C" and the "E" from the word "Corrosive" were not covered up. If that concerns you, take a black sharpie and black those letters out. Then, you'll have the "blank" placard with the UN number written in.

In any case, the placard must identify the material in the trailer....and it does. MSDS was easy enough to come up with.

 

Per 172.301(a)(3), if you have more than 8,820# of an HM item in non-bulk packages, and it is the only item on board, then you are required to display the ID# on all 4 sides of the trailer.

To do this you have 3 options (172.332), put the ID number in: a white square on point device (placard sized), orange panels, or incorporated with the placard. If you are going to put the ID number on the placard you have to do it according to 172.332(c).

Other than being a different ID number, it should look like this:

If a truck came through my scale with the placard and ID number markings you showed in the picture, it would definitely get my attention.

So, what would I do with the placards and markings you showed in the picture? First of all, I would have to give someone an "E" for effort. I have seen much worse attempts. It is legible, the right size, shape and color. Can I tell as a first responder what I would be dealing with? Sure.

On a DOT inspection, if I wrote anything up at all, I would make a single entry warning for ID marking violation, reference 172.332. There is no placarding violation. Not out of service, not a citation.

 

As Scalemaster said, it must comply with 172.332(C), that means that most people cannot handwrite it, as most people cannot reproduce the characters specified, by hand.
Your white, square on point placard, with the number would be displayed beside the Class 8 flip placard. You would not put the "8" on the white placard.