can you wear a headset while hauling HazMat?

iv never heard of it i would guess company policy vrs actual law, but i could be wrong

 

I can text, drive, eat a hamburger and ratchet~jaw on the cb while hauling an oversized load through heavy traffic at 2am......

Haha I don't know honestly, I think it would come down to company policy. I thought having a headset was accepted by DOT.

 

Hands free is acceptable on the DOT front, expect that to come under scrutiny.
In the mean time it's at the drivers discretion unless your company specifically says otherwise.

Pulling Hazmat? I wouldn't do anything that would put me at further risk. Talking includes that.

Any driver that has a headset knows; those miles fly when you're jabbering away. Admit it- you enter a state, you're on the phone jibber-jabbering with your trucker buddies, and before you know it; you're on the other side of that state. It's nice if you can manage your concentration, but a lot of us can't. That includes me. I try to stay off the phone unless it's dispatch crawling up my ### about paperwork being late.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

 

I don't pull hazmat. I've never pulled hazmat.
Frankly, I'm frightened of it. Not that I might screw up, but those around me. Which is not meant to mean that I think I'm flawless- on the contrary; I'm made of flaws. But, I've been hit now, three times at a truck stop, by other drivers failing to back safely. I can only imagine what would happen when (I'm not even kidding here) when the swift driver that destroyed the bulkhead on my reefer, or the CR driver that crumpled in the side of my reefer, or the Werner driver that literally ripped off my front bumper- would've done to a hazmat load.

It scares me. It deeply frightens me, what might happen when I'm pulling flammable, or acidic tanker- what could happen when I get hit. I've been a prof. driver for two years now. I've been hit three times. That's 1.3 times a year. That's ridiculous.


Take that into account, please, OP. I was sitting. I rarely talk anymore, on the phone, when I'm driving, and yet have people drifting in and out of my lane, cutting me off, swerving at me, the list goes on and on- we share the same burden.

The only thing I ask is that you're careful. Sure! Call the family. Get caught up. Enjoy a portion of your life. Do it somewhere safe, though. That hands free headset is great, but try to minimize it's use, for the sake of us all so I don't have to hear Anne Ferro is after our ##### again.

 

Right on, Cabwrecker!

 

I haul hazmat regularly. I use a Bluetooth headset and never have been bothered about it. Someone is feeding you some BS!

 

Hey man, just don't back your haz mat into my trailer, and we'll be good.
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