Trailer Topic Tuesday: Episode 10

FMCSA allows ‘limited number’ of trucks to use pulsing brake lamps

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows in the most recent crash data compiled by NHTSA reveals that the rear of the truck is the second-highest frequency initial point of impact in all large truck (over 10,000 lbs.) crashes causing injury (17%) and death (22%). Which is why Federal regulators have approved enhanced braking lights for a limited number of trucks over concerns that standards should first be updated before allowing the technology to expand within the industry.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted a five-year exemption to Springdale, Arkansas-based Encore Building Products, a construction materials hauler, to operate trucks equipped with an electronic module manufactured by Intellistop, Inc.

The new lights that they are going to be testing will pulse when applied. They will get brighter and flash 4 times and then go back to their normal brightness. One of the requirements for brake lights are that they have to have a steady burn.

However, “the agency has determined that granting the exemption to Encore would likely achieve a level of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved by the regulation,” FMCSA ruled in a notice posted on Friday.

The approval is a win for Intellistop, whose application for an industry-wide exemption for its braking module was denied by FMCSA two years ago. At the time, FMCSA ruled that Intellistop’s exemption was too broad to ensure an equivalent level of safety absent the exemption, but that individual motor carrier exemptions “may be more closely aligned with FMCSA authorities.”

FMCSA’s decision to grant Encore’s exemption is based on the limited number of trucks that will operate under it, as well as data showing that enhanced rear signal systems Intellistop’s could help reduce rear-end crashes.

“Initially restricting the application of this exemption to a limited portion of Encore’s fleet will allow for a comparison between the crash involvement of Encore CMVs [commercial motor vehicles] equipped with the Intellistop device, those without the device, and the overall crash involvement of CMVs operated by similarly sized motor carriers with similar operations and overall safety performance,” FMCSA stated.

The Truck Safety Coalition, which has pushed for tighter truck equipment standards to prevent deaths involving passenger cars that collide into the backs of sides trucks, supported FMCSA’s exemption to allow for limited field testing of Intellistop’s module “in order to collect data and more fully determine the potential safety benefits of this promising approach,” TSC stated.

There is opposition, however. The TSEI (Transportation Safety Equipment Institute) is currently against the exemption, stating, “We do not believe FMCSA should make the leap … without a thorough consideration of safety data and research with the aim of setting standards (including those related to flash patterns) to ensure consistency across all vehicles equipped with such lamps.”  “…we urge the agency to closely study the use of non-steady burning and pulsating lamps and, as appropriate, engage in formal rulemaking to amend [federal regulations] to provide consistency among all vehicles (or vehicle types).”

Do you think pulsing lights could help solve rear crashes with motor vehicles?

SOURCE:

FMCSA allows ‘limited number’ of trucks to use pulsing brake lamps – FreightWaves