'Review the lighting law'
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• A general review of vehicle lighting regulations has been called for by the technical committee of the Freight Transport Association. It points out that piecemeal changes in lighting regulations have been introduced over the past few years and it feels that these developments should now be looked at closely by the Ministry of Transport, manufacturers and operators, to establish what is the safest and most efficient method of illuminating and marking commercial vehicles at night.
On the Ministry's current proposals for the reflective marking of the rear of heavy goods vehicles the committee feels that operators should be permitted to apply the proposed markings direct to the vehicle bodywork without the need for a special plate; direct marking could save up to 14 a vehicle.
Marking certain types of vehicle, such as skip loaders and pole carriers, will cause practical difficulties and the committee says that the proposals will have to be amended to cater for extendible trailers, because the draft requirements would mean different markings depending on the degree of extension.
The committee also wants uniformity with other regulations by making the trailer markings apply to trailers over 1 ton unladen rather than over 15 cwt unladen as now proposed.