Fuel for Thought

Is Anybody Listening?

Talk to me, you never talk to me
Ooh, it seem that I can speak
But I can hear my voice shouting out.
But there's no reply at all.

I get the feeling you're tryin' to tell me,
Is there something that I should know?
What excuse are you tryin' to sell me?
Should I be reading stop or go, I don't know?

Is anybody listening - oh oh,
No reply at all...

     Last year we all can remember the multiple vehicle pile ups in Wyoming during the snowstorms.  It was tragic.  Then there were the shut downs, truckers and travelers stranded on highways for days.  

Um… Wait!  Is this Deja’ Vu?  Anyone else having flashbacks?  Yep, it’s wintertime.  Yes, every year there are more vehicles on the roads.  But we hear more and more about these massive pileups and shut downs because why? 24/7 news and social media.  People Facebook, Twitter, video and take pictures every single moment of their life; for better or worse.  Sometimes these are the cause of the accidents.  Instead of paying attention to deteriorating road and weather conditions they are too busy paying attention to handheld devices like phones and tablets.

These of course were many factors in play that caused the pile ups.  The blame cannot be put on any one thing for all the vehicles involved.  However, I want to make a logical argument here.  We are a society of technology today.  We rely on doppler radars for weather.  We rely on computers, laptops, tablets, GPS, cell phones, and apps to get us to where we are going, and to stay in touch with each other.  We have weather and other alerts on our various technologies.  Headsets for hands-free talking.  Voice-activated texts and phone commands.  Siri and Google that talks to us.  Trucks that shift for us.  Dash cams that record the road for us.  Seats that automatically adjust to our preferred settings.  Anti-skid braking, now trucks that have auto-stabilizing, auto-braking, etc... So much technology to do stuff, that we forget some of the old-fashioned know how that kept truckers safe for decades.

Citizen Band Radios.  

CBs.

CBs have been a tool of communication for decades and have a trucker's life line and road safety net as well.  Long before phone alerts and specialty apps, truck drivers communicated with each other to let them know what was up the road, around the corner, or over the hilltop.  Not just cops, but a sudden accident, a backup that was ¼ the way around a sharp curve up ahead, something in the middle of the road in the dark at night in a rain storm... or snow storm.  These situations and more are when the CB becomes a life-saving tool.

"But all the super trucker @$$***** talking trash that I don't want to hear!"  

We, Allen and I, run with our CB on 24/7.  Well 24/7 if we are driving.  We only shut it off when we are sleeping.  I can honestly tell you 90% of the time there is absolute silence on the channel.  The only time we hear anything is around big truck stops, usually in the congested cities.  

*smiles*  

Did you know there are at least 3 buttons on every CB.  The On/Off which is usually the volume too.  The Channel.  And a magically little button called squelch.  You adjust that squelch, turn it way up.  That cuts out all the static and shuts down the range of how far you hear.  We keep ours to about a mile in the city, maybe a mile and half.  So all that trash talk by the truck stop, we only hear for a minute or so which means we can turn the volume down to barely above a whisper and it doesn't bother us.  When you pull into a truck stop for fuel or parking, if someone is being annoying, well you're off the road, just turn the CB off.  Somebody is just bored and lonely, just trying to be entertained is all.  Ignore them.  That's right, given them no reply at all.

When you are out on the road in winter storms, congested cities, mountains, dark nights, high winds, etc... CBs can be and have been an extremely valuable tool that more truck drivers today NEED to utilize.  All drivers, semi trucks, straight trucks, and yes even you sprinter vans, we all need to communicate with each other.  We need to share road knowledge, what's happening up ahead or what you passed the other way.  The old-time drivers do this all the time, the problem is so few are actually tuned in and listening.  Can you imagine last winter, or earlier this winter if drivers had actually had and used CBs to warn drivers behind them to slow down and STOP, that there was an accident, a "BRAKE CHECK", how many LESS trucks would have been involved?  This is happening everywhere.  

I can't count the times we've tried to radio a driver to let them know they've had a light out, or their trailer door was open, they were dragging something, or something else was wrong with their truck/tires/whatever only to find out they didn't have a CB.  One guy actually held up his cell phone and pointed to it like he wanted us to call.  Um, buddy... I don't know you, so how can I call you?  Don't have your number.  A CB is a universal communication device.  

So you see, that annoyance of the "I got my pretty red panties on and I'm ready to go to bed"  or "shut up stupid"  every once in awhile as you pass near a truck stop is minor amidst the benefits of using the old-school technology that does so much more than all these other technological gadgets we have today.  Don't get me wrong, I love those gadgets too.  But even the grumpy, argumentative foul language that overflows from multiple drivers when you're stuck rounding I-285 in Atlanta is still worth it for the safety benefits.  Turn the volume down so you can just hear it.  You don't have to pay attention to every word, only listen out for the keywords such as "brake check", "accident", or someone saying something about a specific lane.

That way when someone shouts, "Is anybody listening?"  They don't get no reply at all.

~Sierra Sugar