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onspicuity systems help reduce accidents; they can also oniribute to an effective livery. Hauliers in the US are Iready required to fit conspicuity equipment; now European islation is on the way. So how bright are your trucks?
s the biggest vehicles on the road, HGVs should be easy enough to see. But as they represent such a rious potential hazard to other road sers it makes sense to make sure that our trucks and trailers stand out from the rowd. Making trucks conspicuous is also ood for business—as shown by the agons entered for CM'S annual livery wards {see page 31).
Vehicle conspicuity systems have their ots in the United States. The Vector Study onducted by the National Highway Traffic fey Administration evaluated the effectiveess of reflective safety strips on the rear and side of 4,000 semi-trailers over a distance of more than a million kilometres. This two-year trial showed that artics equipped with conspicuity devices were involved in 21".;,; fewer accidents at night and 16% fewer during daylight hours. A similar study carried out by researchers at Darmstadt University in Germany gave an even stronger indication of the effectiveness of such systems. A thousand trailers were equipped with reflective strips on their rear and sides; the same number of trailers without conspicuity equipment were monitored as a control. Thirty of the control vehicles were involved in accidents during the length of the study—compared with one artic fitted with the safety measures. It is hardly surprising that, in the United States at least, this equipment is now mandatory. Conspicuity systems fall into two types. There are the familiar reflective stripes—in ideal conditions they can make your truck visible from up to a kilometre away. Also available are less reflective materials which can be used to form trailer logos. The availability of two different types of material is explained by the relevant legislation, which is by no means cut and dried. A European regulation, ECE1 04, is in the pipeline; it's expected to follow the existing United States legislation. In the UK, the lighting regulations have caused some confusion. On the one hand, they state that no vehicle may be fitted with a lamp which is capable of showing a red light to the front, or any colour other than red to the rear.
That seems fair enough, but a good deal of confusion has been caused by the wording in the regulations which state "...material capable of reflecting an image" is not to be treated as if it were showing a light. This refers to mirrors and does not cover reflective material, even when formed into an image representing a corporate logo. According to the Freight Transport Association, the safest bet is to apply reflective strips as if they were vehicle lights: • White to the front; • Amber to the sides; • Red to the rear.
Ecluation
Things get more complicated when the sides of the trailer are brought into the equation. If the reflective material is intended to make the vehicle more visible it must comply with the lighting regulations, so you're limited to amber or yellow shades triangular shapes. But if the reflective material is intended to promote a name as part of a livery, then any colour may be used. In this case the FTA advises that the livery should not resemble emergency vehicle markings, nor should it overpower the obligatory side markers.
This confusion has led 3M—a major player in the vehicle conspicuity market—to launch two types of reflective materials. One, a high-visibility strip system, is visible from a considerable distance—up to 500m in the right conditions. The other, designed to meet the needs of the livery market, is less reflective, but still eye-catching. "The high-visibility system falls under the passive lighting category," says 3M marketing manager Mark nskip. "This means you can display red colours to the rear, yellow or amber to the sides, and white to the front. With the less reflective system you can display any colour; this obviously makes it more suitable for inclusion in a livery scheme."
Vehicle conspicuity equipment does not have to break the bank.
According to Inskip, a basic strip marking kit for a trailer will cost around .140, including a red strip box at the rear and amber markings to the side. These stripes can be successfully applied in-house; more complex designs are best left to specialist sign-writing and livery companies. To date there is no sign that voluntary fitting of these systems will reduce your insurance premiums. But given the evidence of the two studies mentioned above—and the aggravation involved in sorting out vehicles involved in accidents—anything that can be done to avoid accidents is likely to be welcomed by the majority of operators and their insurance companies.
Retrofitted
The 3M system can be fitted on-line or retrofitted. In addition to its retrofit conspicuity tape, Oxford-based Reflexite offers a system called Vision Seal, which is designed to be built into vehicle or trailer bodywork.
Vision Seal, which meets ECE1 04, is designed to be applied during the manufacture of the door seal and pelmet sections, so it becomes an integral part or the bodywork. Both the American experience and the impending European legislation suggest that the UK is likely to see more vehicle conspicuity systems in the future. A growing number of operators are already using them voluntarily to good effect.
KP-McVities' Snacksdirect van sales operation has applied Reflexite tapes to the rear, sides and front of 50 of its vehicles. According to transport engineering manager Tony Vidler, the system offered the twin benefits of improving safely and fitting with the company's existing livery.
'The most important aspect we cons erecl when we were looking at this type system was that it should offer maxim reflectivity, while not conflicting with existing logo," he explains. 'The Ref le tape complements our livery during the d while dramatically improving the conspicu of the vehicle at night. We're now marki up the inside of the rear doors to stop peo running into them while they're open, a we'll be applying a box pattern to the si of new vehicles in the future."
Legislation is bound to be the driving fo behind the growth of vehicle conspicuity s tems such as those offered by 3M a Reflexite. But the statistics suggest that op ators who take the initiative themselves benefit not at from reduced accident do age, but also From the improved public re tions which result from safer operations.
Savings such as these are impossible quantify, but for a relatively modest oufl these systems could prove to be a go investment. As the old pedestrian safety s gan put it: "Be seen—be safe!".
J by Oliver Dixon