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At night make it bright
Page 18
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A PARLIAMENTARY transport chief says brighter reflective strips on the side of trucks could save operators money.
John Thurso, Liberal Democrat spokesman on transport, is raising the issue after road safety campaign group Brake called for legislation to make trucks more visible at night. "Bearing in mind the amount of time that damaged vehicles are off the road there could be obvious cost benefits for hauliers," says Thurso. Figures released by the Department for Transport don't reveal if trucks pose more of an accident threat at night. Between 1997 and 2002 trucks were involved in 20% of daytime road accident fatalities, compared with 10% at night. Thurso says the figures are inconclusive because the DfT is unable to say if there are significant changes in the level of truck traffic from day to night. "We clearly need more data and I intend to ask more questions to get to the bottom of this" Brake cites research by a German university indicating that 37% of all side collisions with trucks at night occurred because they were seen too late. The same study found that adding retro-reflective contour markings reduced accidents between trucks and cars under poor visibility conditions by 95%.
Brake says fitting new. EUapproved markings will cost £100 per truck.