Simple Safety

[John Cassidy]

Was thinking more about safety and thought I'd share a simple mod we did to our car that's cheap and possibly effective.

We bought some of the red/silver reflective tape strips at the local truck stop.

We put them on the inner panels of all the doors as well as inside the trunk lid.

That way, if we're off and a door or trunk is open at night, hopefully we'll be more visable than with triangles alone.

Cheers! John

[starion887]

Not a bad idea, John. But I have some fear that this may lead some to think that it mitigates the problems of trianlges not being placed; the recent experience of Ozgur Simcek, and our own 2 experiences (crashing one car to avoid killing one idiot, and barely missing another), were all cases where this tape would be of no help. Reflectors on the cars does not achieve the 'flagging' function served by properly deploying triangles.

Regards,
Mark B.

[John Cassidy]

Mark, PLEASE don't mis-read/mis-interpret my post.

Perhaps re-read the last sentence. "hopefully we'll be more visable than with triangles alone."

When we employ EXTRA safety items in/our car, they're just that, EXTRA.

The intention of this post was to share a simple idea for something EXTRA competitors can do to improve the visibility of their car above and beyond triangles.

We all know that accidents STILL happen, even with properly placed triangles. I'm also skeptical that those that don't deploy triangles will even read the safety forums, but we can hope. :-)

Regards, John

[markhuebbe]

John, I like that Idea. I might add some to my bug.

http://www.ezgrip.com/images/3m-safety3.jpg

[RichardM]

By the way, I think this tape is now required on trailers. Any way, it is very good in that application also. Well, it should be, that is what it was designed for. :)

[John Cassidy]

We put the tape on the back of our trailer and tow rig as well.

We try and use reflective decals on the car and on our helmets for night visibility as well.

Anything to help. If the car is off and there's no power for 4-ways, reflective tape/decals only help.

I'm unsure if there are any LED triangles out there and if they'd be legal for competition with either sanctioning body?

Here's a link to some cool triangles, unsure how many might be available stateside: http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/Safety_Triangle.html

http://www.jackstoolshed.zoovy.com/product/RR-53873A?meta=FRG&utm_source=GBASE&utm_medium=CPC&utm_content=&utm_campaign=

http://www.cosmeticmall.com/product_detail.aspx?rcd=datafeed_googlebase&product_variation_id=505860

Regards, John

[BajaBill]

HMMM,
Down in a canyon late at night in an off would help too (Having strips in door openings) to locate (spotlight) a rally car/truck in the brush.:o

Bill Holmes
Truck #44

[Bruce Beauvais]

We bought some of the red/silver reflective tape strips at the local truck stop.

I've always loved the name of this tape in the catalogs - "conspicuity tape". Then listening to colleagues and customer trying to pronounce it.

We put them on the inner panels of all the doors as well as inside the trunk lid.

I've seen some use a SMV (slow moving vehicle) triangle mounted under the trunk lid. Tape would be lighter. Some Mercedes mount the triangle under the deck lid for the same purpose.

Cheers! John

The LED triangles should be legal as long as they also meet DOT reflectivity standards.

[wvonkessler]

Even more important than putting the tape on the back of your rig, put it on the sides. Where we see some serious accidents are where a trailer is across the road, but not visible.

Wilson

[John Cassidy]

Good tip Wilson. I'll be sure and add some to the sides of the trailer.

John

[starion887]

Mark, PLEASE don't mis-read/mis-interpret my post.


I don't think I am, John. I just want to not let anyone think that this is ANY sort of substitute. I have a feeling that some folks would think "Weeeell, they can SHOULD see the refelctive tape...so maybe I don't have to rush to get the triangles set up...." And I can hear the excuses now in the post-crash debriefing with the safety steward: "BUT they should have seen the reflector tape!" Sorry! As an FYI, I have never had ANY problem seeing a car day or night, with or without reflectors, unless it was off in the woods. I think it might help a following car spot and open door sticking out in the road at night.

But don't NOT put this on if you think it a good thing; it probably is.

Regards,
Mark B.

[John Cassidy]

Please listen to Mark and read your sanctioning body's rulebook on triangle use/deployment. Get the triangles out quickly and properly. If you've got questions about triangle use, for everyone's sake, read the rulebook.

John