FMCSA renews Grote’s five-year waiver for brake-activated strobe lamp
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) granted a renewed five-year safety waiver to Grote Industries’ Auxiliary Strobe and Stop Lamp, a brake-activated, pulsating warning light designed to reduce rear-end collisions.
FMCSA’s decision extends the waiver through 2030 and acknowledges the strobe lamp’s role in reducing rear-end collisions. The original 2020 waiver allows motor carriers to equip trailers and van body trucks with a brake-activated, pulsating amber warning lamp in addition to the steady-burning red lamps required by federal regulations.
The lamp is designed to flash amber five times in four seconds when braking, before returning to a steady red state. Grote argues the brief pulsing helps following drivers react sooner without causing confusion or distraction.
Grote said in a news release that since the waiver was first issued, more than 150,000 vehicles have been outfitted with the Grote Auxiliary Strobe and Stop Lamp, logging more than 250 million miles (400 million km) on the road. One large national fleet customer experienced a 33% reduction in rear-end crashes per mile compared to a baseline fleet without the system, based on data from over 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) driven, the company claims, adding that another large fleet saw a 52% decrease in overall recordable incidents per vehicle and a 75% reduction in incident severity.
“The results speak for themselves,” said Mark Blackford, director of national fleet sales. “When you see reductions of this magnitude – in both the frequency and severity of rear-end collisions – it confirms that this technology is making a measurable difference. The renewal of this waiver allows us to continue supporting fleets with a proven solution that helps improve safety on our roadways.”
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I dont really buy it, except in the case that it forces the trailing vehicle to pass. These things, and the big yellow and red meatball on the back of SWIFT and Amazon trailers are blinding at night, so your forced to pass or pull off to prevent eye dazzle. Second thing is, what a great way to find out you have seizures, the pulsing/flashing of these frequencies require warnings on movies and TV because of this. And lastly, if you dont have a seizure or lose your night eyes, you will lose your depth perception, and since you are trying to pass, not a real good idea. If a driver requires the need of these, then the driver requires a proper training in braking, passing, and safe operation of a CMV.
Even worse is that now all the tankers have them too on those stupid ropelights on the rear, and Loves even has both on their tankers.
i don’t believe this I think it has more to do with the new collision control in cars than the grote lights. In the case you are trying to make. You would have to believe that blinkers work just as well. Same amber color. In my experience. Blinkers are almost worthless in a large city environment. Most do not even see them. Drivers pull up beside you and moan a groan about you cut me off. you tell them i have had my blinker on for 1/2 mile. they are like i didn’t no blinker. So if they not seeing a blinker what make you think a amber flasher before brake lights are going to a make a difference. So that’s why i believe its the new collision warring’s in vehicles