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Industries. " They did that on 500-some trailers,
then there was also a study group of 500 [trailers]
that did not have them. They ran those for three
years. The data indicated over three years that
there was a 33.7% reduction in rear-end collisions.
During the same time, they had zero collisions at
railroad crossings. "
Regulations and exemptions
The only problem with utilizing pulsating brake-activated
lights was that the current Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulation,
49 CFR 393.25(e), requires all exterior lamps to be
steady-burning.
Groendyke Transport applied for an exemption
to allow the use of an amber brake-activated
pulsating lamp on its trailers in addition to
the steady-burning brake lamps required by the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR).
In 2019, the FMCSA granted a five-year exemption.
In October 2020, National Tank Truck Carriers
(NTTC) applied for and was granted a similar
exemption for all U.S. tanker trailers, Grote's
Blackford said. Following this, Grote applied for
and was granted yet a further exemption.
" Grote created and was granted a waiver, not
only for all tanker trailers, but basically for all
trailers: dry vans, reefers, and truck bodies, "
Blackwood explained. " Basically, [this applies
to] all equipment being pulled down the road, or
trucks that are driving down the road. "
Now that the exemptions are in place and applicable
to virtually all heavy-duty trucks and trailers
on the road today, and the technology is developed
and readily available, more fleets and other organizations
can test pulsating brake lights to see what
impact they have on fleet safety and equipment.
Installation
There is not yet a set standard for where these
lights must be mounted on the back of the trailer
or how many should be used, so applications vary.
" Groendyke used a single, amber light mounted
centrally on their tanker trailers, " said Jeff Geoffroy,
director of marketing and business development at
Peterson Manufacturing. " This provides the minimum
cost as you only have one lamp and harness
extension. Another option some fleets have investigated
is dual upper outboard [lights]. This requires
two amber pulsating lights and two harnesses. "
These are typically mounted about halfway up
the back of the tank.
When Grote started working with fleets to add
pulsating brake lights they wanted to place them at
passenger car eye-level, Blackford said. On a reefer
or dry van, however, that would typically mean the
lights have to be mounted on the doors, which either
swing out or roll up, making installation complicated
and more costly, so Grote settled on placing
the lights between the existing trailer brake lights.
Wherever the new lights are mounted, installation
methods will vary based on the trailer type.
" Adding a light to the back of a tanker is a challenge
because you can't drill into a tanker nor can
you weld to the tank, " Geoffroy said. " Many fleets
are using a bracket with double sided adhesive to
hold the lamp in place. "
» Some fleets opt to use dual outboard
lights. Mounting on a tank requires adhesive
or brackets to avoid drilling or welding.
Photo courtesy of Peterson Manufacturing
While large holes should not be cut into any
type of trailer, small holes for rivets are typically
acceptable as long as they are not on a tank,
making a surface-mount application ideal.
" Because the fleet wants it to be retrofittable
and cost-effective, surface mount was the goal, "
Blackford said. " When you start cutting plasma
holes into the structure of the back of the trailer,
there's some integrity issues. Trailer manufacturers
don't really recommend cutting holes in the
frame. The surface mount with a couple of a 3/16 "
rivets is the mount [Grote uses]. "
No matter the trailer type, wiring should be
a relatively simple plug-and-play operation.
Whether using one lamp or two, both types tie
into the brake light harness for power and brake
signal, Geoffroy said.
Blackford noted that Grote's lights include
adapters as well, which plug into the existing
brake light harness, creating Ys in the wiring.
" One of the Ys goes to the existing taillight, and
the others go to this light, " he said. " There's no
cutting or splicing; it's plug and play. "
Blackford said that once the required tools
are gathered, it should take a technician about
30 minutes for the first install. If they are adding
two lights to a trailer, it would be " a total of maybe
40 minutes for the pair. "
For each light installed the technician will need
to drill one 3/8 " hole for the wire to pass through,
Blackford noted, as well as the two 3/16 " rivets.
Maintenance and inspection
Once the lights are installed, there is not much
fleets need to do in terms of maintenance.
" The Grote motto for maintenance on a Grote UBS
Harness LED Package is, 'leave it alone,' " Blackford
said. " We design things built to last 10 years or more
unless you get into catastrophic issues with damages
or repair. You don't need to do anything other
than keep abrasive chemicals off of it. "
Grote and others in the industry recommend that
fleets refrain from using high pH or high alkaline
chemicals, because they can have a negative impact
on polycarbonates and acrylics such as lamp lenses.
Peterson's Geoffroy noted that checking trailer
lights for proper operation requires a helper or a
mirror positioned behind the trailer. He also offered
the following recommended practices for inspecting
pulsating brake lights and other trailer lights.
ÜMake sure the lenses are clean. They may
be functional, but if they are dirty, they may
appear to be malfunctioning to an inspector.
ÜCheck electrical harnesses for any signs of wear
or damage. Once moisture gets an entry point
into a harness, it will use capillary action to wick
its way throughout the entire system corroding
wires, connectors, and LED lamp circuit boards.
ÜEnsure there are no signs of a cracked or
damaged lens; this is a guaranteed entry point
for moisture which will eventually corrode the
inside of the light and cause it to fail.
ÜHave a co-worker watch the vehicle as it is driven
around the parking lot; moving vehicles can
have flickering lights that will never be seen
when the truck and trailer are sitting still.
ÜLED lights have circuit boards, and if they get
damaged, they can overheat. Feel the lights at
the end of a drive and see if there is any excessive
heat-that is a warning sign that cannot be
found at the start of a shift.
Manual inspection aside, trucks today are
increasingly spec'd with automated light checking
capabilities, Optronics' Hester noted.
" Many modern cabs have a lighting test switch
built into the vehicle instrument cluster, " he
explained. " Once the switch is turned on, the vehicle
will start cycling through the different brake,
turn, hazard lighting sequences, and will keep
doing so until the switch is turned back off again.
This will make it easy to verify that the pulsating
brake lights are working properly. "
If a fleet's vehicles do not have a light-out detection
system built in, aftermarket versions are
available, Blackford said.
The future of pulsating
brake lights
Pulsating brake-activated trailer lights are a relatively
new concept, so adoption rates are still low.
Blackford, however, expressed that Grote expects to
see a ramp-up of usage amongst heavy-duty fleets.
" I expect over the next five years for the popularity
of this to become fairly commonplace, and I
expect that these fleets are going to be able to have
some very significant data points that they
can review, " he said.
While regulatory groups can
sometimes be at odds with fleets
and manufacturers, Blackford
pointed out that all parties are
in agreement when it comes to
pulsating brake lights.
" FMCSA was very, very
supportive of this whole initiative, "
he said. " They encouraged
us to go down this path when we
approached them. "
While there are many positive outcomes, the
most important factor when looking at utilizing
pulsating brake-activated lights remains safety:
preventing tragedies that may otherwise occur
due to a careless traffic accident.
" I really believe in this product, " Blackford said.
" I think it's going to save lives. "
July 2021 | FleetMaintenance.com
33
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