FMCSA allows ‘limited number’ of trucks to use pulsing brake lamps

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have approved enhanced braking lights for a limited number of trucks over concerns that standards should first be updated before allowing the technology to expand within the industry.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted a five-year exemption to Springdale, Arkansas-based Encore Building Products, a construction materials hauler, to operate trucks equipped with an electronic module manufactured by Intellistop, Inc.

When the driver applies the brakes, Intellistop’s module pulses the truck’s rear clearance, identification and brake lamps from low-level lighting to higher-level intensity four times within two seconds, then returns the lights to a steady-burning state while the brakes are engaged.

Federal regulations require that installed brake lamps, whether original or replacement equipment, be steady burning.

However, “the agency has determined that granting the exemption to Encore would likely achieve a level of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved by the regulation,” FMCSA ruled in a notice posted on Friday.

The approval is a win for Intellistop, whose application for an industry-wide exemption for its braking module was denied by FMCSA two years ago.

At the time, FMCSA ruled that Intellistop’s exemption was too broad to ensure an equivalent level of safety absent the exemption, but that individual motor carrier exemptions “may be more closely aligned with FMCSA authorities.”

FMCSA’s decision to grant Encore’s exemption is based on the limited number of trucks that will operate under it – approximately 223 – as well as data showing that enhanced rear signal systems Intellistop’s could help reduce rear-end crashes.

“Initially restricting the application of this exemption to a limited portion of Encore’s fleet will allow for a comparison between the crash involvement of Encore CMVs [commercial motor vehicles] equipped with the Intellistop device, those without the device, and the overall crash involvement of CMVs operated by similarly sized motor carriers with similar operations and overall safety performance,” FMCSA stated.

Encore is also prohibited from installing the module on more than half of its power units and half of its trailers during the first year of operation under the exemption.

The most recent crash data compiled by NHTSA reveals that the rear of the truck is the second-highest frequency initial point of impact in all large truck (over 10,000 lbs.) crashes causing injury (17%) and death (22%).

The Truck Safety Coalition, which has pushed for tighter truck equipment standards to prevent deaths involving passenger cars that collide into the backs of sides trucks, supported FMCSA’s exemption to allow for limited field testing of Intellistop’s module “in order to collect data and more fully determine the potential safety benefits of this promising approach,” TSC stated.

Safety standards group: Regulations first

But the Transportation Safety Equipment Institute (TSEI), which advocates for advanced performance standards and regulations for truck safety equipment, was against the exemption.

“We do not believe FMCSA should make the leap … without a thorough consideration of safety data and research with the aim of setting standards (including those related to flash patterns) to ensure consistency across all vehicles equipped with such lamps,” TSEI stated in comments filed with the agency.

“While we believe FMCSA should deny Encore’s exemption application, we urge the agency to closely study the use of non-steady burning and pulsating lamps and, as appropriate, engage in formal rulemaking to amend [federal regulations] to provide consistency among all vehicles (or vehicle types).”