This might be a case for the new Department of Government Efficiency.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which two years ago denied Intellistop’s application for an industry-wide exemption from 49 CFR 393.25(e) to allow fleets to install its pulsating brake lamp module, this week published the ninth application from a carrier seeking to use the safety device to prevent rear-end crashes.
Coffeyville Resources Crude Transportation, based in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, pointed to the first FMCSA exemption granted to Gemini Motor Transport on May 10 in its submission to the agency, and said it plans to equip only its clean products division, which runs approximately 80 tank trailers, with Intellistop technology. “Using these modules on our highway fleet, with a smaller number of drivers, we will be able to monitor the data of any reduced crashes from that fleet compared to our crude fleet, which currently has 160 drivers and 100 trucks/trailers,” Holly Forsyth Conallis, Coffeyville Resources DOT compliance specialist, wrote in her application letter to FMCSA. “We do not plan to add this module to the crude fleet due to the road conditions that the crude fleet drives.
“The two different fleets, one running the exemption and one not, will allow us a good comparison between the two internal fleets on crash reduction and maintenance of the module itself.”
See also: FMCSA publishes eighth Intellistop exemption application
Coffeyville asserts that using the Intellistop module, which pulses the rear clearance, identification, and brake lamps from low-level lighting intensity to high-level lighting intensity four times in 2 seconds when the brakes are applied—rather than providing steady-burning lamps during the first 2 seconds—would enhance rear signal systems, according to an FMCSA notice. Coffeyville submits that pulsing the rear brake lamps of a CMV may significantly increase visibility and reduce the frequency of rear-end crashes, and thus would maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that the CMV would achieve without the requested exemption.
The company is the second bulk hauler to seek an Intellistop exemption this year after FMCSA granted a sixth exemption to Encore Building Products in September. The agency published Casey’s Services Company’s application Oct. 22 following the first wave of seven parts and accessories exemption applications that began hitting the Federal Register in January 2023. “Intellistop makes a great product, and anything we can do to make ourselves more visible and safer out there on the roadways, so everybody goes home at the end of the day, is a good thing,” Keith Lamfers, Casey’s transportation and distribution manager—and Midwest region chair for National Tank Truck Carriers’ Safety and Security Council—told Bulk Transporter last month.
See also: Gemini wins first Intellistop exemption
FMCSA is accepting public comments on Coffeyville’s application through Dec. 23.
