EDITORS AND CORRESPONDENTS

On June 19, 1998, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to require that interstate motor carriers install retroreflective tape or reflex reflectors on the sides and rear of trailers manufactured prior to December 1,1993. The rulemaking is intended to help motorists detect trailers at night and during periods of poor visibility and reduce collisions of passenger vehicles with the sides or rear of trailers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration now requires trailer manufacturers to equip trailers manufactured on or after December 1, 1993, with red and white retroreflective material on the sides and rear, and the FHWA currently requires motor carriers to maintain the retroreflective material on the trailers manufactured since December 1993.

The NPRM proposes that motor carriers retrofit their trailers within two years of the effective date of the final rule. Some flexibility in colors or color combinations would be afforded for a 10-year period, but all older trailers would have to be equipped with red-and-white conspicuity treatments at the end of the 10-year period. The locations for applications of the reflective material during the phase-in period would be the same as on new trailers, with the exception of the rear underride device.

Comments to the NPRM (rulemaking docket number FHWA-MC-1997-2222) are due on or before September 17, 1998.

Internet users can access all comments received by the U.S. DOT Dockets, Room PL-401, by using the universal resource locator (URL): http://dms.dot.gov . It is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year.

If your publication would like more information on this rulemaking, please call our media relations contact, Janet Kumer, at 202-366-0079.

Sincerely yours,

George L. Reagle
Associate Administrator for Motor Carriers

Last updated June 19, 1998