And during the CVSA’s Operation Roadcheck annual inspection blitz, lighting accounted for 13.5% and 15% of out-of-service (OOS) violations during the last two years, respectively.
LIGHTNING TRUCKING CODE
Specifically, ‘Inoperable required lamp (violation code 393.9)’ has been the leading culprit, regularly accounting for more than 12% of total roadside violations – more than twice the percentage of the next most frequent infraction.
Lighting has been the leading cause of roadside violations for as far back as publicly searchable FMCSA inspection data goes.
LIGHTNING TRUCKING DRIVER
“If that light is all I have on that truck, I may not cite the driver but I’ll still put it out of service.” “A lot of times I didn’t cite the driver because I know a bulb can go out at any time,” Wirachowsky says. But enforcement officers will sometimes give the operator the benefit of the doubt and not write a citation if their story is believable. However, the outage of individual diodes should be recorded on the pre-trip inspection report and communicated to the shop for repairs, she added.Īs for the excuse ‘That light was working just fine when I did my pre-trip,’ she said a light-out violation is still a light-out violation and an out-of-service truck or trailer is still out-of-service, even if it happens moments before a roadside inspection. “Until you can’t see the light from the distance required, you don’t have a violation,” Wirachowsky said of LEDs with failed individual diodes. Some LEDs, for example, will fail one diode at a time, while others will lose clusters and some will go out entirely without warning.Īs individual diodes fail, enforcement is left to rely on the eye test. And how the lights expire also varies by make and model.
Even after a pre-trip inspection while en route to a delivery. Kerri Wirachowsky, director of the roadside inspection program with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) explains it in five words: “Drivers don’t do proper pre-trips.”īut unlike other components such as brakes and tires, which wear over time and usually provide some advance warning of a failure, lights can fail at any time. So why does lighting continue to be the leading cause of roadside violations?
Heck, even those pesky high-mounted clearance lights on straight trucks and trailers that are so prone to damage by tree branches now come in a slimmer profile with more damage resistant lenses. There are pre-trip inspection assistants available from truck makers that will cycle through the lights to simplify the inspection process.Īnd the lights themselves are now predominantly LEDs, built to last for many years. There are telematics platforms that notify a driver and/or fleet manager in real-time when a light goes out.
LIGHTNING TRUCKING DRIVERS
By James Menzies Octo lighting systems have never been better and the tools available to fleets and drivers to ensure they’re functioning properly have never been more advanced.
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