By Nick “the Safety Guy” Holub
article courtesy Equip Safety
For the side of your trailer it needs to be 15″ – 60″ and at least half the length of your trailer.
If your trailer is 60′ long you need 30′ of DOT Tape (conspicuity tape) and of course it needs to be evenly spaced.
Below you will see the DOT regulation section. For your next Pre-Trip or Post-Trip inspection, double check your size, length and location.
According to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:
“d) Locations for reflex reflectors—(1) Sides. Reflex reflectors shall be applied to each side of the trailer or semitrailer. Each array of reflex reflectors shall be positioned as horizontally as practicable, beginning and ending as close to the front and rear as practicable. The array need not be continuous but the sum of the length of all of the array segments shall be at least half of the length of the trailer and the spaces between the segments of the strip shall be distributed as evenly as practicable. The centerline for each array of reflex reflectors shall be between 375 mm (15 inches) and 1,525 mm (60 inches) above the road surface when measured with the trailer empty or unladen, or as close as practicable to this area. The center of each reflector shall not be more than 100 mm (4 inches) from the center of each adjacent reflector in the segment of the array. If reflex reflectors are arranged in an alternating color pattern, the length of reflectors of the first color shall be as close as practicable to the length of the reflectors of the second.”
Click here to read the entire regulation about required reflective markings on commercial vehicles.
Since applying reflective conspicuity tape cleanly can be extremely difficult, Equip-Safety offers magnetic versions of the tape for your safety and convenience.
You can order 4-inch by 2-foot long strips (click to order) or 2-inch by 2-foot long strips (click to order).
You can put it on your trailers, tractors, mowers or even your personal car or truck to be more visible. (photo courtesy Nick Holub)
While it seems as if there is an infinite amount of resources available today online, but at Equip Safety we have the knowledge and experience to guide your company to being safer and work towards achieving the “Zero” that we all strive for.