Special Note to U.S. Truckers -

The other morning I was driving to work behind a truck belonging to the New York State Parks Department. A green placard was mounted on the rear. I automatically assumed that the driver had at least 1001 lbs. of a non-flammable gas on board. As I got closer I noticed that the placard had the slogan "Safety First" printed on it. There was neither a symbol of a cylinder nor any reference to Division 2.2. But it was the right shade of green and it was about 10 inches square and it was in the diamond shape.

49CFR 172.502 (a)(2) prohibits the use of "Any sign, advertisement, slogan (such as "Drive Safely), or device that by its color, design, shape, or content, could be confused with any placard prescribed in this subpart".

172.401(b) has a similar prohibition concerning labels.

How about those 4-inch square, diamond-shaped, yellow signs that drivers put on their rear and/or side windows - the ones that frequently indicate "Baby on Board" or "Mother-in-Law in Trunk"? I hate to be a grouch, but…..

Reminder: Effective October 1, 2001, vehicles, containers, and tanks are prohibited to have slogans such as "Drive Safely" or advertising displayed in your permanent placard holders

HMAC Information -

Hazardous Materials Advisory Council is offering a European Road Transport of Dangerous Goods Course (ADR) in New Orleans on November 5-6, 2001, in conjunction with the HMAC 2001 Conference on "Managing Hazmat Compliance", which is being held on November 8-9.

The conference and its breakout sessions are a fantastic way to find out how your company should be handling its dangerous goods compliance initiatives. We hope to see you there on November 8th.

You can contact HMAC at http://www.hmac.org for more information.

Election Day -

For those of you that are planning on being in New Orleans for the training or the conference please remember that Election Day in the U.S.A. is November 6. If you are eligible to vote check with your local election board for absentee ballots….you know, those "things" that caused chaos in our national elections last year. Make sure you fill them out completely and mailed prior to your state's deadline.

Our little quizzes -

Last month we initiated, as promised, a short quiz dealing with hazardous materials/dangerous goods. We appreciate the compliments that we received as well as a couple of "challenges", and a few "Thanks, I didn't know about that". Judging by the jump in the number of visits to our website last month a number of our regular visitors suggested that their colleagues should also visit our site and to take the quiz. Thank you for the recommendation.

We do not score the quiz or track anyone who visits our website. We are opposed to the use of "cookies" so unless you contact us directly with a comment or a question we cannot, and would not, send you any unsolicited e-mail. We don't like junk mail either.

Thank You for Visiting our website!