Speakout: Why did you become a trucker?
SPEAKOUT
Effect of handheld rule on
drivers with hearing aids?
From Overdrive’s Facebook page
I recommend an exception to the ban on use of handheld cell phones while
driving for truckers who are hearing impaired and wear a hearing aid.
I know many commercial drivers and other motorists who wear aids, and
many have to remove one to use both cell phones and land lines. Can the
commercial drivers be exempted due to having to handle the hearing aid
and then the cell phone and ear piece to take or make the call?
Far too many external units, such as a GPS and some CB systems with
blue tooth capability, don’t work properly and many have poor reception. As
a rule, background noise interferes so extensively that it’s difficult to hear
everything.
For those whose hearing is perfect, it’s difficult to understand the
challenges those with hearing loss encounter daily.
Bans such as the one against handheld communication devices are only
the beginning of the end for free-thinking drivers and innovative carriers.
Independence is on its way out if we don’t band together for a common goal.
GORDON ALKIRE | Owner-operator | Riley, Kan.
“
I’d love to roll
into New York in
Rush Hour with
this beauty!!!
”
— John Cullen, of Fort
Coulonge, Quebec, commenting
on the Mack Granite Megatron
(from the third Transformers
film) on display at the MidAmerica Trucking Show.
What in-cab product can you
not live without on the road?
“My Sirius satellite radio
keeps me up and active on
long drives.”
DAVID HUGHES
Columbus, Miss.
Celadon company driver
“My fridge. I keep ham,
yogurt, vegetables and
salads in it. It keeps me
eating healthy.”
SERGIO DONIS
Fredricksburg, Va.
Owner-operator leased to Donis
Transport
“I use my headset a lot – for
both business and pleasure
calls.”
PETER PETERKIN
Orlando, Fla.
Owner-operator leased to Landstar
88
OVERDRIVE MAY 2012
“Air freshener! I have a dog,
an American Eskimo, and the
truck needs it sometimes.”
TOM THARP
Boaz, Ala.
LMR Trucking company driver
“My CB radio, although in
recent years it’s turned from
a tool to a toy for many
drivers. I use it to keep up
with local traffic.”
JOHN FAGG | Knoxville, Tenn.
IWS Trucking company driver
“I keep up with sports,
news, everything, on my XM
radio.”
RANDALL CHOTE
Henderson, Texas
Owner-operator leased to
Dependable Auto Shippers
“
There’s a lot of space
underneath the trailer,
[so] in a tornado
event, it’s gonna
go for a ride.
”
— Borden Dairy General Manager
Bill Witt talking to Tulsa, Okla., TV
station KOTV about his milk delivery
fleet after April twisters roared
through the town, inuring no one.
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under the Contact menu or mail it to
Overdrive, P.O. Box 3187, Tuscaloosa, AL
35403.
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