Driving and Parking Rules: Attendance, Fueling, Smoking, Tires, Railroad Crossings
What this domain covers
These rules govern how you operate and where you stop a placarded vehicle: attendance, parking setbacks, fueling, smoking, tire checks, and the mandatory railroad-crossing stop.
Attendance and parking
- A vehicle carrying Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 explosives must be attended at all times: the driver within 100 feet, with a clear view, awake, and physically able to move it (49 CFR 397.5). A sleeping co-driver in the bunk is not attendance.
- Do not park a placarded vehicle within 5 feet of the traveled portion of a public road (397.7).
- Keep explosives away from bridges, tunnels, and occupied buildings, and use a secure, fenced lot whenever possible.
- Set the parking brake and chock wheels on grades.
Smoking, fire, fueling
- No smoking within 25 feet of a placarded vehicle (397.13); no open flame near the load.
- Shut the engine off before fueling, stay at the nozzle, and never leave a transfer unattended.
Railroad crossings (49 CFR 392.10)
Placarded vehicles must stop within 50 feet but not less than 15 feet from the nearest rail, look and listen both ways, and cross only when the far side has clear space. Do not shift gears while crossing. Crossings posted “Exempt” are the main exception.
Tires
Check tires at least every 2 hours or 100 miles (397.17). A leaking or overheated tire on a hazmat load is a stop-and-fix condition, not a “limp to the next exit.”
Worked example
A marked crossing is 60 feet ahead and your load is placarded. You do not stop at the point 60 feet back; you pull up and stop more than 15 but less than 50 feet from the nearest rail, look and listen, confirm space on the far side, then cross in the same gear. Stopping too early or too late is a violation.
Traps
Thinking a sleeping co-driver counts as attendance; parking 4 feet off the shoulder; assuming a familiar or signal-controlled crossing waives the stop; and shifting gears on the tracks.