Blinded by the Night

We see it nearly every day on our commutes: a vehicle on the side of the road with a flat tire or a mechanical issue. As a daytime occurrence, these instances are very easy to identify. At night, however, they aren’t always easy to see. One way truckers try to overcome this issue is by placing their safety triangle behind their vehicle. This procedure can help oncoming traffic see them and move over so they don’t hit the truck or anyone in its vicinity. Another reason is to provide a safety corridor for the tow truck, enabling it to safely approach the vehicle. 

While the safety triangle does help, the growing concern for drivers is the amount of additional visibility it actually provides. On a clear night, safety triangles are visible up to 800 feet away. For a motorist traveling 60 mph, that’s a potential of just nine seconds of reaction time at night. 

GOVERNMENT HELP

Many states are starting to enact and enforce laws that require drivers to move over one lane, when applicable, to provide greater safety for those vehicles on the side of the road. While the intentions of the law are good, if you don’t see the vehicle or the safety triangle immediately, you may not be able to change lanes safety and/or in time.

SAFETY IN A FLASH

Fortunately, there is a way for anyone using a safety triangle to enhance their visibility to oncoming motorists. The E-flare™ TB10R Flashing Beacon for Safety Triangles from PIP is a battery powered device that requires only a single AA battery for up to 25 hours of use. When the E-flare™ TB10R is added to the safety triangle it increases visibility to approaching motorists from 800 feet (without beacon) to 3,000 feet (with beacon). For that same 60 mph driver, there’s now a potential of up to 34 seconds to react and safely move over, away from the stationary vehicle.

The E-flare™ TB10R is designed to attach to most safety triangles of 4” in height. Each of the three LED lights provide 25 Candela luminous intensity and flash, at a rate of 160 fpm. And it’s compact enough to fit inside your glove box for easy storage. Contact your PIP distributor today to outfit your fleet with E-flare™ TB10R Beacons for Safety Triangles.