Guest Post: Trailers Need More Lights

By Cathy Forman

Cathy’s sister, Leslie Rosenberg, and niece, Sophie Rosenberg, were killed when a tanker truck pulled onto the dark, unlit highway from a side road, crossing three lanes of traffic, and their car crashed into and under the rear of it.

We need legislation to mandate lights on the sides of tankers, trailers, and trucks.

This May, my sister should be home making dinner for her kids, preparing for the weekend celebration after her youngest – of ten! – graduates from Texas A&M.

That is not happening.

Because this happened:

This is what a mini-van and its occupants look like after crashing into the underside of a tanker truck.

It was a dark October night in Texas in 2018.  My sister, Leslie, was driving her nineteen-year-old daughter, Sophie, back to college.  A tanker pulled onto the unlit highway from a side road, crossing three lanes of traffic.  My sister – driving in the rightmost lane -- plowed into the underside of the tanker at full speed. 

My sister never returned home.  She won’t cook another meal.  My niece isn’t on the alumni rolls, she’s on a memorial plaque.  They were both killed instantly, pronounced dead at the scene.  

There were no skid marks.  No.  skid.  Marks. The reason for there being no skid marks is simple: my sister never saw the tanker. 

She never saw the tanker because it was painted dark blue and had no lights on the sides that were clean and clearly visible.  It was the highway version of a stealth vehicle. 

This is what an unlit truck looks like on a dark night: 

Imagine how invisible it is without that light post.

In 2019, 36% of all fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred at night (6:00 pm to 6:00 am) according to the most recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

“The main factor related to the driver's ability to see a crossing truck is… how well an object stands out from its background.  At night the size of the trailer by itself will not make it conspicuous…an approaching driver will have to rely on the side marker lights for his only cue to the presence of the trailer…without an external light source, trailers are often not identified until the headlights of oncoming vehicles directly illuminate them.  When their headlights illuminate the trailer, on-coming drivers will only be 100 to 200 feet away, and unable to stop at higher speeds.” 

“If the (retroreflective) tape is dirty, badly worn, or if the truck is at a steep angle to traffic, oncoming drivers may not be alerted to the presence of the trailer.  The underride hazard is still present…lights all around the sides are a much better alternative.”

Research continues to show that better conspicuity reduces crashes.  Data gathered by Groendyke, a motor carrier operating tanker trucks, between January 2015 and July 2017 showed that trailers equipped with both the pulsating lamp and the steady-burning brake lamps were involved in 33.7% fewer rear-end collisions as compared to vehicles equipped with only the steady-burning brake lamps.  The company recently received a waiver to equip their trucks with these additional lights.

Unfortunately, companies like Groendyke are the exception, not the rule.  Instead, a driver is more likely to encounter (and likely not see at night) this:

Instead of seeing (and not crashing into) this:

I’m not asking for this:

Just this:

  ‘Cause what I really want to see is this:

Please help us pass legislation so that no other family ever has to see this…

…knowing their loved ones were inside.

Write your Congressperson.  Contract your Department of Transportation.  Sign my petition at change.org:  Save Lives By Lighting Up Tractor Trailers and Tanker Trucks