New NHTSA Study Confirms Reflective Tape On Big Trucks Reduces Crashes, Fatalities

    WASHINGTON, April 30 A new study by the U.S. Department of
Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
confirms that the reflective tape now being required to make trailers on big
trucks easier to see is effective in preventing crashes.
    The study estimates that fully-implemented federal visibility requirements
for heavy trailers will prevent 7,800 crashes annually.  The study also
estimates that 191 to 350 fatalities per year will be prevented, along with
3,100 to 5,000 injuries, once all heavy trailers in the U.S. fleet have been
equipped with highly reflective tape.
    "Better visibility means fewer crashes, and fewer crashes translate into
injuries prevented and lives saved," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman
Y. Mineta. "Reflective tape is proving to be a very effective component in our
plan to improve truck safety and support the Bush Administration's goal to
reduce the number of truck-related crashes."
    According to the 55-page study, reflective tape reduces side and rear
crashes into heavy trailers, particularly at night "when even a vigilant
motorist might not see an untreated trailer in time for a crash."  The tape
reduces side and rear impacts into heavy trailers by 29 percent in the dark.
    NHTSA requires all heavy trailers manufactured after November 1993 to be
equipped with highly reflective tape or its equivalent in the form of
reflectors.  In March 1999, the Federal Highway Administration's Office of
Motor Carriers (now the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) required
that the entire on-the-road fleet of heavy trailers be so equipped by June 1,
2001.
    The Florida Highway Patrol and the Pennsylvania State Police collected
data for the NHTSA study between 1997 and 1999.  Together, the two law
enforcement agencies amassed information on 10,959 crash cases involving heavy
trailers.
    The newly released NHTSA study is on the agency's Website at:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/regrev/evaluate/pdf/809222.pdf .

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