Cell phone ban

The difference I see is the fact that a CBs are not hands free .... therefore is much more dangerous than using a handsfree cell ... and the discussion on the CB and a Hands-free cell are irrelevant .. and my bet is 95% of the conversations on the CB have nothing to do with safety..

 

You would be correct, the CB is so annoying we leave it off unless there is an emergency or traffic jam to know where to go safely.

 

Have you conducted a study to determine that? Or are you just pulling numbers out of your rear end?

How many TC's have been caused by drivers talking on the CB? How many TC's have been caused by drivers using a cell phone?

Flip those questions around...how many TC's have been prevented by drivers communicating with each other over the CB? How many TC's have been prevented by drivers using a cell phone?


Anyone who claims there is no difference between a CB and a cell phone is full of excrement. The use of a cell phone has absolutely no safety benefit to a driver, and only acts as a distraction. The CB, on the other hand, has proven time and time again to be a useful tool to help drivers become aware of a situation before it becomes a dangerous problem.

 

...so drivers can't tell you that you've got a strap that has come loose, lights on the back of the trailer not working, warn you about that drunk swerving all over the road that you'll be meeting soon, or let you know that you should back it down because just over that next hill traffic is at a dead stop. Instead, you'll let the DOT be the one to let you know about the loose strap or trailer lights not working when he hands you the citation...and you can learn about the drunk or the traffic backup when you see them and have to take immediate evasive actions to avoid crashing. Yup...sounds like a great plan to me. Then, AFTER you see the traffic backup and have come to a quick panic stop to avoid causing a wreck, you'll turn on your CB to find out what is going on, when if you had been listening to it you could have exited the highway and gone around. Too late now...you're stuck until the road opens back up. Hope nobody else too good to listen to their CB tops that hill behind you at full speed....could get ugly, because there isn't much room left and these trucks just don't stop on a dime.

To each their own, though...

 

Had it on the other night. Not one peep out of it for miles. As we came to a stop, it suddenly started talking about the delay. What a waste. All I heard was other truckers bs, nothing about the bad wreck.

Hardly worth having on anymore.

 

So that was just one night.....

There's been quite a few times when the CB in our truck started talking about a backup or something of that nature before we got to it.

Granted, some nights it was quiet or most of the time it just had a lot of trash talk comin out the speaker but quite a few times, it came in handy and served it's purpose. I don't know how many times I've let someone know about lights not working, air bags on trailers not being inflated, all sorts of stuff.

It may not be what it was in the days of Smokie and the Bandit anymore, but it still remains to be a good investment for safety and preventing someone from making a donation to the state they are traveling in. Just my opinion.

 

That is just the latest. It will be off unless running with someone now.

 

That's your choice.

 

For the most part, CB comunications last a couple minutes at best. Hey East bound. Ya, go ahead. Someone gave you a black eye on the drivers side. Hey thanks for the info, All quiet heading that way, Have a good evening sir. Yeap you also there sir, keeper safe.

Cell phone user, yap yap yap yap yap (swerve back into lane) yap yap yap yap (30 minutes later) yap yap yap (swerve back into lane again) (search for pen and paper to write something down while trying to juggle the phone at the same time) yap yap yap yap.

 

I agree that the CB is not like it used to be, but what is? The CB is still a great tool. I've used it to let other drivers know about headlights out and such, or large "gators", or pieces of wood/metal, bicyclists, pedestrians, in their lane back down the road. Just the other day, I was running with another one of our drivers. We left the T/S (actually convenient store) where we took our 10. I had just done a PT not more than 5 mins earlier. He calls me on the CB telling me my left headlight is out. It was working 5 mins ago. Thankfully I only had about 10 mins before sun-up and could shut them off until I could get it replaced. I don't want DOT notifying me in writing.

A few months ago, DOT set up at the Florence round-about on US-50, doing inspections. I thought I would let other drivers know what they should expect. So I call out to a group of drivers heading towards it, first just doing the customary "WB you got it on?" No reply, until I follow that up with "Guess ya' don't want to know about the DOT party going on". Suddenly the radio came alive, "What, where is this at?"

There's also been the skateboarders where the load has shifted, chains came loose, and they didn't have the CB on. Drivers trying to get his attention so the load doesn't fall off, causing a major incident. On a 2-lane highway, it's next to impossible to pull along side a driver to get their attention. Takes another driver in front, slowing down to a crawl to get their attention away from the dad-gummed cellphone that's stuck to the side of their head, so you can let them know.

I've had another driver tell me my airbags on my trailer seemed flat. OOPS, I forgot to inflate them after dumping 5 miles back down the road. One of those things I thought I had done, but was in a hurry, partly due to the loader man wanting me out of the way NOW!! Thanks to the CB, I was told about, pulled over, jumped out and pushed the valve on the trailer.

Yep, the CB is a worthless, ancient technology that should be relegated to museums. No one should have one in a vehicle. I think naught. It can be annoying, with all the garbage talk, sign noise/static, but they put knobs on these things that help tone that down. I'll turn mine down when needed, but back up when on the highways.

We have a "company channel" that all our drivers will run when we want to B.S. while going down the road together. That we we don't interfere with others, and others don't have to listen to us B.S. Running alone, I'll run 19, however when I'm meeting another one of our drivers, I flip it to our "company channel", give them a shout or they'll be calling me. Then back to 19.