Why my CB radio is on all the time, and why yours should be, too

Same here. Maybe this winter I will.

I am just human and I don't like hearing any comments about any driving maneuver I may pull off.
If anyone curses or even bad mouths me about my driving, it stays with me the rest of the day. It is not worth it.

 

I often have my little Cobra in my pickup on, and I'll give a bear report or say if the local coop is open or not. (If I know, that is). Or maybe just chat a little with some drivers.

 

Today we have many other sources of "entertainment" then we had yesteryear and these can make the CB an unwanted distraction. Consider cellphone conversations, satellite radio, talk radio, huge personal digital music libraries, podcasts, audio books, etc.

My point is, relegating the CB to a less prominent status was bound to happen and it's not the end of the world.

A lot of technology has also been introduced that does, in many cases, a better job than the CB in informing... Waze, Google traffic, GPS traffic, web-based road closures and construction apps, weather and radar and road conditions apps, etc.

 

The race card. Conveniently located at the bottom of the deck for easy play. Lol

 

I'm sure there are still some here that remember before we had CB's,hand signals to other oncoming trucks,remember giving another driver "the wind 'er up",a circular motion with your finger,mean't ,hammer down,no cops going back your way.First CB's in the early 70's were either Johnsons or a Pace 2300,seems like they were the most popular,all 23 channel radios.Was a welcome item in the cab of a truck,to help fight boredom,all we had back then were payphones at truck stops.Everyone was on channel 10 when the CB craze first started,then everyone moved over to channel 19,because all the local Reacts complained,about bleedover onto 9,the emergencey channel.
But I guess now most CB's chatter has morphed into all the other things the world has turned into today,and not much of it is any good.

 

Said it before and I'll say it again. Too many people with thin skin who can't just ignore the BS. Never once has that stuff bothered me

If they don't have a CB, they won't hear the bear report. Duh.

 

I'm local driver now company doesn't allow CB radios. I enjoy knowing that still today truckers use the C.B. for used information.

 

All too often today, the "information" provided by truckers is either miscommunicated, wrong, bad, outdated, expired, or just plain intentionally false. When you can't trust the information, you're better not having it, and proceed with your own reckoning.

 

This is all true, but someone yelling on the radio that traffic is jamming up ahead due to a crash is going to be faster notice than any app.

 

This is true... In some cases. But I've had Google traffic indicate a traffic jam due to a very recent accident but not a word was spoken on the CB. Besides, that's why we're given vision tests and trained to always be alert and always expect the unexpected.

In dense traffic such as weekend traffic in suburban areas, Google/Waze will indicate traffic problems within 2 minutes of the buildup and/or slowdown and of this, I can attest to because I've seen it.

It's worth noting, that is the very same technology that autonomous cars developers are utilizing to "see ahead and anticipate", and the technology data compilation speed and accuracy is improving every month.

If you want to test this - next time you witness a significant crash in an urban or suburban area or other major road with plenty of traffic volume, immediately pull up Google maps with traffic and notice how the area and direction will almost immediately go from green to yellow and later to red.