FMCSA Approves Lower Monitor Placement Exemption
The agency said placing the monitoring system at the bottom of the windshields of about 500 commercial trucks is part of a research project.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has approved an exemption allowing Transecurity LLC to place camera-based monitoring systems at the bottom of the windshields of approximately 500 trucks. Current federal safety regulations don't permit placing transponders or similar devices to be positioned any lower than 6 inches from the top of the windshield, but the agency said this placement is safe and is part a research project being done for FMCSA's Analysis, Research and Technology Division.
The placement will be outside the drivers' sight lines to the roadway and to signs and signals, thus maintaining a level of safety at least equal to that achieved without the exemption, FMCSA said in its Nov. 28 Federal Register notice.
This exemption follows one that was in effect for Transecurity for three months this year, with trucking companies in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Michigan participating in the data collection. This new exemption is in effect until Nov. 14, 2014.