| Author |
Message |
David & Lorna Schinske (Davidschinske) (65.58.12.24)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 8:22 am: | |
Would like folks to know that we have hit the brakes on the bus or if parked on side of road (hard to see a 40 ft bus after all). Saw a highway construction truck with the strobing brake and hazzard lights while going thru Chattanooga (always work there). I'm talking about the really bright, fast-strobing, attention-grabbing ones. A lot of the police cars have them now. Does anyone know where I could get them? Are they legal (have also seen them on Delivery trucks)?
Lorna |
Bill Gerrie (216.185.73.251)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 9:11 am: | |
Lorna
I enquired about them a few years ago and was told by the MTO that it was illegal for anyone other than police, ambulance, etc to have them. At least that is the way in Canada. Better check with your local dept of transportation. Bill |
JimNH (172.147.238.230)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 9:24 am: | |
Lorna, I just looked at Grote and found them. They say for business, government or emergency vehicles... Looks like the may be ok. Check them out here:
http://www.grote.com/cgi-bin/family.cgi?section=G
Jim |
Geoff (Geoff) (66.238.120.8)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 9:44 am: | |
Around here anyone can mount amber warning lights on their vehicle, the only lights you CAN'T have is the red lights. I have an amber strobe light on the roof of my service truck.
--Geoff
'82 RTS CA |
Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.99.4)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 10:23 am: | |
My Son-in-law (A fire Chief) told me about some Brake/Turn lights that are coming on the new engines.
They are in some way programmable, I'm not sure how, but you can get them to flash intermittantly, for a second or so before they stay on.
This might be a way to let people that there's something as inconspiuous as a Bus ahead.
Gary |
David & Lorna Schinske (Davidschinske) (67.30.242.203)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 7:51 pm: | |
The Brake/turn light thingy is what I'm looking for. The road construction (contract not state) have really bright flashers. Very noticable even in daytime. Hard to look for when you don't know what they are called! Searching for "Brake light/turn signal flashy-thingy" doesn't turn up much.
Lorna |
gottabeme (69.138.6.234)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 8:29 pm: | |
Signal dynamics makes a unit that would flash your brake lights.
http://www.signaldynamics.com/products/BLSM/blsm.asp
I am looking into putting one on my motorcycle and it is 50 state legal from the research I did. But that is a 400 pound motorcycle not a 38000 pound bus.
I would sugest the LED tail lights, they are really great. At work, when I compare an LED bus vs a non-led Bus, the diffrence is nothing short of dramatic, especially in the fog or rain. |
Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.99.4)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 9:01 pm: | |
My daughter is coming over tonight, I don't think Hubby is with her.
I'll try and fiind out what those were and I'll post the link.
Thanks,
Gary |
Peter Aduskevich (Slowslowpete) (67.75.96.254)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 11:40 pm: | |
If your big concern is being on the side of the road at night , you could use DOT reflective tape.I think thats the name . I have it on the back of my bus . Works well. |
Scott Cavanaugh (66.169.172.64)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 6:58 am: | |
I had a link to a manufacture of what you are looking for but can't seem to find it now. I did a search on Google "vehicle strobe lights" and found a whole bunch of resellers. I do remeber that most of the systems are sold by the number of lights you want to flash and are programable as to what pattern you want them to flash in.
I had thought this would be a great idea just for the resons you indicated. I do know that some systems used strobes, and others can use LED's. I think it would be a great saftey solution. |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy) (24.196.191.70)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 8:45 am: | |
http://www.conspicuity.com/
DOT tape.
Richard |
Ian Giffin (Admin) (64.228.43.63)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 10:13 am: | |
Hi Lorna,
You may want to check the latest NFPA 1901 code that speaks to the issue of warning devices on fire apparatus. While obviously not related to buses, nevertheless, the information contained in this code makes references to a number of important considerations regarding the warning to oncoming traffic such as flashing light colours and the total number of flashing lights at a specific scene.
I can't tell you how many near misses our fire department has had with drivers driving their vehicles straight into a set of fire apparatus' flashing lights, coming to a screeching halt, scaring the life out of our firefighters.
As a result, there has been a ton of information coming out of committees (such as NFPA) looking into scene safety. One issue that keeps coming forward is the fact that there may be just too many flashing lights at the sides of roads, overwhelming a driver's visual receptors.
Lack of light at night tends to turn our vision into two dimensions, playing havoc with our depth perception. Add speed, age and other impairments to the mix and it is easy to see why road workers at an emergency scene get run down and killed all the time.
When deciding on what kind of warning devices we should put on our vehicles, we might wish to consider NFPA 1901 when deciding on whether to go with flashing lights or retro-reflective warning tape - both of these ideas having been discussed in this thread.
Regards,
Ian Giffin
www.busnut.com
PS. The official name for the "brake light/turn signal flashy-thingy" you referred to is called a "corner strobe light head". Please see Federal Signal Corporation, Corner Strobe Systems |
Abajaba (12.217.194.92)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 12:49 pm: | |
As an addition to this subject, there is the possibility of having an electronic circuit added to the brake light circuit to make the brake lights more noticeable.
I found one on the web at http://www.comagination.com. The specifications are for 12 volt circuits and the module will work with a load of up to 115 watts of brake lights. It can be used for the high center brake light only or all the brake lights.
The unit appears to be very small and there are three wires coming out of it.
The idea is that when the brakes are first applied the lights will blink a few times and then come on steady. If the brakes are released and then re-applied, they will blink but not as long. If the brakes are released and not applied for 20 to 30 seconds the circuit will reset and do the full blinking again.
As to strobing hazard lights, one could install strobe tubes in the rear lamp housings like a lot of law enforcement vehicles have now, or one could add additional lamp modules on the back of the vehicle and use those for the strobing hazzard lights.
I think the tubes in the rear lamp housings would be the least conspicuous when not in use and would not detract from the appearance of the vehicle when turned off. But when turned on with the hazzard light switch, they would be quite visible to the rear. |
Mike Eades (Mike4905) (206.148.124.132)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 10:56 am: | |
Lorna I do lighting on motorcycles at shows all over the country. I will tell that the lights you want for the rear of your coach are L E D lights. They are legal and the work. When I do a seminar on lighting for the motorcycle people I always tell them to use LED's. The main reason is that they will last forever and are bullet proof. We can get them wet, we can bang them and we can't seem to hurt them. You can buy relacement bulbs for the 1157 bulb which will give you led's at very low cost.Check my web page. xtrasrally.com |
David & Lorna Schinske (Davidschinske) (67.29.244.12)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 7:52 am: | |
Thanks all. Now I have some else to "research" :D
Will check out all the links. I think our signal lights (brake turn etc) are a bit on the dim side. But new lights & wiring might help. the LEDs are a good idea.
Lorna |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy) (24.196.191.70)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 8:58 pm: | |
Lorna, I brightened up my brake and tail lights by a very significant amount. I removed the lens and covered the reflector area with aluminum tape. The real bright shiny kind that is typically used on air conditioning ducts. Really made a big difference.
Richard |
BrianMCI96A3 (198.81.26.104)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 03, 2003 - 5:14 pm: | |
Lorna, I actually have a couple of used strobe turn signal flasher thingies, that were made by Federal Signal, I believe... let know if you are interested!
Brian |