Safety and appeal

Nov. 1, 2000
Adding reflective markings to your fleet is an easy way to improve safety conditions for your drivers - and others - on the road. And if you haven't done so yet, time is running out.By June 1, 2001, all motor carriers engaged in interstate commerce must install retroreflective tape on the sides and rear of all semi-trailers manufactured before December 1, 1993. This ruling affects all motor carriers

Adding reflective markings to your fleet is an easy way to improve safety conditions for your drivers - and others - on the road. And if you haven't done so yet, time is running out.

By June 1, 2001, all motor carriers engaged in interstate commerce must install retroreflective tape on the sides and rear of all semi-trailers manufactured before December 1, 1993. This ruling affects all motor carriers with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 lb. and vehicle width of more than 80 in.

At Avery Dennison, we're committed to helping fleet owners meet and exceed federal regulations - increasing highway safety for both truckers and automobile drivers alike.

The purpose of conspicuity tape is in its name - to make trucks conspicuous to other vehicles on the road. According to the Dept. of Transportation (DOT), the new regulation will bring about $360 million in safety and economic benefits.

Most commonly red and white, conspicuity tape helps eliminate or lessen accidents and can reduce liability payments by adding brightness and long-distance visibility to a trailer.

Providing up to 2,000 candlepower of brightness (compared with the 250 candlepower required by law), our films are engineered for exceptional long-distance viewing.This high reflectivity level, eight times more than is required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, provides more time for drivers to identify and react to semi-trailers in their line of sight.

Constructed with a unique, multi-orientation microprismatic structure, our conspicuity tape features 22,000 microprisms per square inch of film. This multi-orientation pattern ensures excellent reflectivity at wide angles, improving visibility of trailers as they turn and drive around corners or winding roads.

Avery Dennison conspicuity tape carries the "DOT-C" certification for compliance and is designed for simple, trouble-free application - and increased safety.

Another way to make your fleet more visible to others on the road is by using reflective fleet graphic films that capture your branding message.

Adding a company logo or image on reflective films has two advantages: 1) improving road safety by making your trucks more visible, and 2) adding graphic appeal by displaying a company name or logo on the side of your trucks.

A moving semi-trailer creates an ideal opportunity for a moving billboard. With large sides and great exposure, this space is perfect for advertising brand or corporate identity. During night driving, reflective fleet graphic films can capture the attention of drivers, increasing both safety and company awareness.

Last year, Avery Dennison acquired an industry-leading manufacturer of reflective safety products for the transportation industry, providing us with proprietary technology to broaden our reflective product line and better serve the highway-safety industry.

This new proprietary microreplication technology platform, combined with our more than 60 years of pressure-sensitive experience and 20 years of retroreflective technology, enables us to create and develop a variety of innovative new products and applications to increase highway safety.

About the Author

Kevin Rohlwing

Kevin Rohlwing is the SVP of training for the Tire Industry Association. He has more than 40 years of experience in the tire industry and has created programs to help train more than 180,000 technicians.

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