Another company wants to use flashing lights to meet federal warning device regulations for when a truck is stopped on the shoulder.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, however, argues that the exemption request fails to consider all of the variables that truckers encounter as they haul freight across the nation.
In August, Emergency Safety Solutions asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a five-year exemption related to regulations that require drivers to place warning device triangles around a stopped commercial motor vehicle. If granted, the exemption would apply to all commercial motor vehicles equipped with the company’s Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol (H.E.L.P.) DeliverSAFE system, which “activates higher flash rates on lamps” when the truck is stopped.
OOIDA, which represents small-business truckers, submitted formal comments on Thursday, Sept. 25.
“The studies included in the Emergency Safety Solutions exemption request do not provide adequate justification that the H.E.L.P. DeliverSAFE system can achieve an equal or greater level of safety …” OOIDA President Todd Spencer wrote. “The data does not account for all the varying weather, road, lighting and traffic conditions that commercial motor vehicles encounter throughout the country.”
Exemption request
Current regulations require that “whenever a commercial motor vehicle is stopped upon the traveled portion of the shoulder of a highway for any cause other than necessary traffic stops, the driver shall,” as soon as possible, place the warning devices in the following manner:
- One on the traffic side and four paces – approximately 10 feet – from the stopped commercial motor vehicle in the direction of approaching traffic
- One at 40 paces – approximately 100 feet – from the stopped commercial motor vehicle in the center of the traffic lane or shoulder occupied by the commercial motor vehicle and in the direction of approaching traffic
- One at 40 paces from the stopped commercial motor vehicle in the center of the traffic lane or shoulder occupied by the commercial motor vehicle and in the direction away from approaching traffic
Emergency Safety Solutions, a Houston-based company, said its truck module taps into the commercial motor vehicle’s red and amber lighting circuits and “activates higher flash rates on lamps on the front, sides and rear of the CMV tractor and trailer or box truck when the CMV is in park or the parking brake is engaged, the hazard lights are on and the module’s hard switch is turned on.” The company said its “trailer module activates higher flash rates on lamps on the sides and rear of the trailer of the stopped CMV, but because it does not activate lamps on the tractor, the driver would continue to need to carry warning devices.”
In 2024, FMCSA denied a similar request from Aurora and Waymo, saying the “broad exemption is not supported by the data presented and lacks necessary monitoring controls to ensure highway safety.”
The exemption denial is particularly important to autonomous trucking companies, as it prevents them from operating without a human on board.
Other comments
According to Regulations.gov, FMCSA received 19 comments related to the exemption request. While OOIDA opposed the exemption, the Truckload Carriers Association and American Trucking Associations were among the supporters.
“ATA believes that this exemption shows the potential for new and innovative lighting solutions to improve safety,” wrote Kevin Grove, ATA’s director of safety and technology policy. LL
Credit: Source link
