Got a little carried away with some DOT reflective tape and my M923A2

[PWM]

The weather has been so unseasonably warm lately I decided to get outside and do a cheap modification to my M923A2 for better low light visibility. I have always worried about being rear ended because some half asleep driver didn't see my truck at night. I broke out a roll of DOT reflective tape and went to work. I sanded the areas smooth that I was putting the tape on to hopefully promote better adhesion,time will tell on that. It may not be the greatest looking backside of a truck but It makes me feel better driving at night. As soon as money allows I will be adding more running lights to the back of my truck, but for now this will have to work. Thanks for looking.

 

[wreckerman893]

I got a couple of rolls so I should prob put some on the vehicles around here just to protect myself from the bastage lawyers.

Pretty much negates the cammo though.

 

[dawico]

It is definitely visible.

 

[Floridianson]

Know it's not required on our trucks but a 3 light bar light would help at night and comply with most DOT.

 

[PWM]

I will be putting lights on the back but Uncle Sam needs more money from me. Gotta love tax season.

 

[Artisan]

I wonder if there is like maybe GREEN and YELLOW Conspicuity tape?
I wonder if it HAS to be just red and white?

Or Green and White
Or Yellow and White

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I couldn't bring myself to to do reflective tape. But lights on the other hand...

 

[85CUCVtom]

When I managed the bike shop we carried a brand of reflective tape called Lightweights reflective tape. It's black and reflects bright white. It's on the skinny side at 3/8 in. but I'm sure the material is sourced elsewhere and you could find it in 1 or 2 inch widths.

http://www.lightweights.org/shop/Lightweights-Stealth-Black-Tape-400.html

 

[Skullmaster]

I thought about putting the tape but then put lights, what ever you have to do to make it more visible the better

 

[PWM]

I wonder if there is like maybe GREEN and YELLOW Conspicuity tape?
I wonder if it HAS to be just red and white?

Or Green and White
Or Yellow and White

I found a bunch of different reflective tape colors searching on e-bay.

 

[Artisan]

I found a bunch of different reflective tape colors searching on e-bay.

Indeed they can be found but there is a FMVSS Spec on conspicuity tape I do believe.
If it is not to spec, it mind as well not be there at all. To many laws, impossible
for any one man to keep abreast of it all, well, except DOGHEAD, the man
has a walking photographic memory!

I just wrote the folks at www.lightweights.com that 85CUCVtom linked us to above
and I asked them to tell me which products they sell are FMVSS approved...
They have a LOT of very cool stuff. We shall see what they say. If other colors
are acceptable it might be nice...

I would LOVE to find some reflex tape that is precut to fit West Coast Style
rear view mirrors, I mean some Reflex stickers shaped like the Chevrons
we have on our mirrors.

 

[quickfarms]

Be very careful with the tape.

It should only be applied in accordance with the DOT regulations in the specified locations using the approved color combination.

To much will make you a target for the impaired.

There was a highway study started by one of the state police agencies that the governor of that state cancelled it because of the number of accidents.

 

[tim292stro]

I second what Quickfarms says about too much.

The pictures in the first post (OP), seem to me to be confusing what I'm looking at. The DOT conspicuity rules focus on the rear outline. For side reflective, you need to think about how high the headlights are to react with the tape - mount it too high and someone close won't even likely see it. Keeping it under 48" high I think was the suggestion, which would just about be on some of your lower frame-rails for 5-ton-ers.

I've been looking at mounting 3M 2" fluorescent yellow-green DOT-C2 tape to magnetic sheeting of the same width to a 686A (Fed 33446) tan vehicle. This way it's removable, but very visible both day-time and night time. My current pickup has a simple 2" DOT-C2 white stripe low in the stamped factory body line (to match the vehicle color), and a 1" L along the top of the door frame to make it easier to pick out the shape of the vehicle. I used to have more on there, but I found that too much made it too "busy" and harder to interpret what it was that was reflecting all of that light. Simpler is better...

 

[PWM]

I didn't do any measurements I just roughly followed what is on most of the commercial dump trucks around here . It may not be the perfect arrangement but it is better than nothing until I can get some lights installed.

 

[wbread99]

All of our unit's AGE is marked with black reflective. Pretty cool stuff. Black in the daylight, but reflective at night.