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Stay bright in the night

17th September 2009
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

From next month, hauliers buying new trucks and trailers must pay extra to make their vehicles more visible. Experts say the safety benefits justify the extra costs.

Words: Adam Hat The took of the UK's night-time traffic is

about to change. From October, the physical outline of the rear and sides of trucks will have to be made more visible to other road users.

EC Directive 2007/35/EC, which has become ECE104 Regulation, states that hauliers need to fit retro-reflective markings — tape that works on a similar sort of principle to a cat's eye in the road.

This will increase a vehicle's ability to draw attention to itself, and thus lessen the risk of accidents.

Initially, the legislation will only apply to new "typeapproved" HGVs above 75 tonnes and trailers above 3.5 tonnes operating in the UK and on the Continent that have been first registered after 10 October. Exemptions include chassis cabs and tractors for semi-trailers.

Marking tape

Trucks will also need to have either rear-marking plates that comply with UN ECE Regulation 70.01 or sport conspicuity marking tape.

In Italy, the law now applies voluntarily to new and existing vehicles, but in the UK, there is, at present, no requirement to retrofit. This means that there is currently no impact on a number of hauliers. However, from 2011, the idea is that it will be mandatory for all new vehicles, so the issue is worth looking at now.

While the new regulations will not affect anyone who can put off buying new trucks for a while, there will be a potentially significant extra cost for those who have to make a purchase now. especially if they run a large fleet.

Fitting the markings can be done in-house, which means the price of tape itself represents the significant outlay For example, staionery company 3M's list price for a 55mm x 50m roll of retro-retlective tape is £140. Bulk purchases would, of course, reduce that.

Highway Visibility, part of specialist livery company Stewart Signs, breaks the costs down even further. For the average 7.6m-trailer, the company reckons hauliers are looking at well under 00 to become ECE104-compliant.

The trailer can be made out with partial or full contour markings: red on the rear, yellow on the sides, with white markings for the truck cab optional. "We would normally advise full markings for higher safety standards," says Gary Stanley of Stewart Signs.

One roll of yellow rigid grade tape costs £178. But the company says this will be enough material for around half-a-dozen trailers with partial contour markings. working out at just under £30 per trailer.

A part-roll (55mm x 12.5m) of red tape would be enough for one trailer rear and costs £50, Stanley adds. A 55mm x 50m roll (£178) would cover four trucks with full rear outlining, or £44.50 per vehicle rear.

"Essentially, this means you can make one trailer compliant, under the bare minimum requirement for ECE104, for approximately £80," says Stanley "Or a bit less if you are more savvy with the material usage and have more vehicles to mark up."

Different colours Marking tape must carry the E-mark to prove it meets the ECE104 standard and must be different colours depending on where it is on the vehicle: white (front), yellow (sides) and red (rear).

"The tape must bear the ECE104 E-mark,'' warns Stanley. -A lot of tape is mis-sold on the marketplace and does not fully comply."

Conspicuity markings arc likely to be inspected as part of the annual test, and, if found wanting during roadside checks, treated in the same way as, say, rogue number plates when it comes to penalties.

So much for the cost of becoming EC104-comphant — how effective is conspicuity marking?

It is an uncomfortable fact that trucks are involved in a disproportionate number of accidents that result in death, although this is not necessarily the HGV driver's fault. "Motorists are bad at understanding the speed and distance differential between themselves and trucks," says Adrian Burrows, senior engineer at the Department for Transport.

The figures, however, are sobering. In 2005, for example, HGVs accounted for just over 1% of UK road vehicles, but were involved in 16% of fatalities. In that year, there were 40 fatal accidents in this country in which motorists collided with the back or side of trucks.

A good thing The government wants a 40% reduction in the number of people killed and seriously injured on UK roads by next year, and anything that helps to ensure that a vehicle can be clearly seen, even when other road users are not actively looking for it, must be a good thing.

While there may be some grumblings about the need for extra visibility, there is evidence for the claim that retro-reflective marking will improve road safety.

Figures vary, but most research agrees, to some extent at least, on the effectiveness of conspicuity marking. University researchers in Europe suggest trucks with the markings are 30 times less likely to be involved in accidents than unmarked ones, and that other drivers notice marked trucks five to eight times more quickly.

One German study discovered that the fact other drivers saw lorries too late was the main reason for more than two-thirds of all side collisions with trucks at night.

Markings could eliminate 95% of all side and rear collisions with HGVs during the hours of darkness in the EU, the study estimated.

A US study found that tape reduced side and rear impact crashes by 41%, Finally, a European Commission report found that mandatory conspicuity markings could prevent more than 1,000 fatalities or serious injuries across the EU each year. Even for the most cynical of operators, that seems like a good place to start. M


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