Newbie And CB Radio

I know all you guys recommend having a CB but I just don't get it.

I don't have one and I have no plans to get one either. I have no trouble at shippers or receivers. I get asked for a phone number way more often than I get asked if I have a CB.

I deal with enough stuff just doing my own job to listen to everyone else whine about theirs on the CB. And it seems like that's all there is anymore.

I listen to the weather band on the FM radio and hubby monitors Twitter and radar on my phone if we have weather concerns.

Just my opinion!

Check this out ChickieMonster: Wyoming pile up

This is why you want a CB. I still can't watch the first video without crying. I was in Cheyenne the day before this. It's a miracle no one died in this one, but just two or three days later there was another wreck involving hazmat in the same stretch if highway in which one person was killed.

The obvious problem was that most of the trucks were driving way too fast for conditions, but the severity of the situation could've also been greatly reduced if everyone had been listening on their CB. Even if you're going 45 mph it can be difficult to stop in time in these conditions. If you go slower like 35 mph, you might be able to stop in time, but what's to keep some fool going 50 or 60 from barreling into you from behind?

Don't get me wrong--I'm not saying you need a CB to avoid wrecks, but I think it can really help. I wished I had one the last time I was driving through Wyoming when thick fog set in.

Come on girl! Get one! We can ping each other. lol I want one when I get my own truck next week. :)

I know all you guys recommend having a CB but I just don't get it.

I don't have one and I have no plans to get one either. I have no trouble at shippers or receivers. I get asked for a phone number way more often than I get asked if I have a CB.

I deal with enough stuff just doing my own job to listen to everyone else whine about theirs on the CB. And it seems like that's all there is anymore.

I listen to the weather band on the FM radio and hubby monitors Twitter and radar on my phone if we have weather concerns.

Just my opinion!

I know all you guys recommend having a CB but I just don't get it.

I don't have one and I have no plans to get one either. I have no trouble at shippers or receivers. I get asked for a phone number way more often than I get asked if I have a CB.

I deal with enough stuff just doing my own job to listen to everyone else whine about theirs on the CB. And it seems like that's all there is anymore.

I listen to the weather band on the FM radio and hubby monitors Twitter and radar on my phone if we have weather concerns.

Just my opinion!

Check this out ChickieMonster: Wyoming pile up

This is why you want a CB. I still can't watch the first video without crying. I was in Cheyenne the day before this. It's a miracle no one died in this one, but just two or three days later there was another wreck involving hazmat in the same stretch if highway in which one person was killed.

The obvious problem was that most of the trucks were driving way too fast for conditions, but the severity of the situation could've also been greatly reduced if everyone had been listening on their CB. Even if you're going 45 mph it can be difficult to stop in time in these conditions. If you go slower like 35 mph, you might be able to stop in time, but what's to keep some fool going 50 or 60 from barreling into you from behind?

Don't get me wrong--I'm not saying you need a CB to avoid wrecks, but I think it can really help. I wished I had one the last time I was driving through Wyoming when thick fog set in.

Chickie, Paul's point is dead-on. CB is realtime, from drivers "in it" at the moment. Nothing will get you lifesaving information faster. I can't read Twitter when I am driving in a snow squall.

I know all you guys recommend having a CB but I just don't get it.

I don't have one and I have no plans to get one either. I have no trouble at shippers or receivers. I get asked for a phone number way more often than I get asked if I have a CB.

I deal with enough stuff just doing my own job to listen to everyone else whine about theirs on the CB. And it seems like that's all there is anymore.

I listen to the weather band on the FM radio and hubby monitors Twitter and radar on my phone if we have weather concerns.

Just my opinion!

Even in a car I like to have one on long trips. I can find out where cops are sitting in the medians.

I'm still in training but my trainer has one and we have only turned it on a few times. Twice in traffic so we could get an idea of what was causing the hold up (we also learned about a nice pair of legs in the jeep behind a greyhound bus that we never saw) and once at a shipper who's guardshack was on channel 40. Other than that it stays off. He did say he'll listen to the weather channel on occasion also.

I will give you some prime (no pun intended) examples....

60 mph corner, nice sunny day all of a sudden my radio squawks "Hey flatbed there is a wreck right around the corner!" I immediately started backing out of it and sure enough, a state trooper was in my lane putting out flares. Had I still been going 60 I would have not been able to stop. I also turned on my 4 ways as soon as I heard that over the radio. Kept the cars behind me from trying to get around.

Another instance was on a 2 lane with no shoulder. All of a sudden around this corner comes a pilot car and he was able to inform me that I was heading towards a 21' wide load. As someone that hauls a lot of wide loads, I appreciate it when the oncoming truck has knowledge of what he is about to run into. Makes everyone safer. In this case I was able to move over enough to get that load by because I pulled into a wide driveway opening. Otherwise I would have met that truck in the corner. And on 2 lane roads the lanes are either 10' or 12' wide if they have been upgraded.

I have met other wide loads when I was wide also and we were able to safely pass each other because we knew what was coming.

The worst one though was being 135' long and meeting a 15' wide load in a left hand corner on a narrow 2 lane road. I was not wide but in a left hand corner I am scraping the guard rail with the truck while the dolly is on the zipper. No way for me to move over and that time the pilot did not have a VHF like I do so I could not run the CB on 19 to get a warning from their pilot. I was already into the corner when my pilot let me know so there was nothing I could do about it. A few miles down the road there were 4 more identical loads and I switched to 19 momentarily to let them know that there were 4 more beam loads coming behind me. Because of this there were no incidents with them and our other trucks.

I can't begin to count the number of times I was informed about super critical things ahead by someone on the CB.....the road suddenly gets a thick coating of black ice, a big wreck around a corner up ahead, DOT checks, massive traffic backups, trees down in the road - all kinds of stuff. I've had people inform me about problems with my truck and I've informed many others of problems with theirs.

Honestly I have no idea why anyone would run without a CB but I guess that's because I've watched it save people from major catastrophes time and time again. I've used it to get directions and I've spent countless days and nights shooting the breeze with other drivers to pass the time. In fact, some of the most riveting conversations I've ever had in my life were all-nighters amongst a few drivers that were running together.

There isn't anything out there that drivers use which will instantly spread information to everyone in an instant the way a CB can. It's funny because all the trucks I've had over the years have had super expensive "safety equipment" if you can call it that - collision avoidance systems, lane departure systems, all kinds of baloney. I can't think of one single time any of that garbage did one bit of good but I watched that $150 CB save people's lives and make life on the road so much easier and more enjoyable time and time again.

I hate to say it, but to me it seems like common sense should tell you that it's going to be safer out there if everyone can communicate the information they have with each other in real time. You can turn it off or turn it down if you get to an exceptionally annoying place like West Memphis, but there's no way to replace the information you're missing if you don't have a CB.

I'll jump on the bandwagon and say that you're inviting a potentially bad situation by not having one. Yes there's tons of radio Rambo types out there and they're easy to ignore but the first time you get a heads up about a situation ahead of you that you wouldn't have known about until it was too late, you'll be glad you have it.

A CB takes up very little space, a lot of trucks have adequate built in antennas (not super duper, but you should reach the horizon which is good enough range), adds very little weight, and shouldn't drain your batteries (not valid for all states of batteries, not good in Quebec, YMMV) even if you left it on while stopped for your ten hour off duty. It definitely falls into the category of "better to have and not need than need and not have." You also can turn it off whenever you want. It's a tool that's very useful, get one.

With my trainer when I had my permit... I would get on his CB and flirt and all the guys would start the chatter. Was hysterical. My trainer and I would flirt and they would get excited not knowing we were In the same truck ahhahah