Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation; Application for an Exemption From TowMate, LLC.
Federal Register, Volume 80 Issue 151 (Thursday, August 6, 2015)
Federal Register Volume 80, Number 151 (Thursday, August 6, 2015)
Notices
Pages 47031-47032
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov
FR Doc No: 2015-19333
Page 47031
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Docket No. FMCSA-2015-0238
Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation; Application for an Exemption From TowMate, LLC.
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of application for exemption; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requests public comment on an application for exemption from TowMate, LLC (TowMate) to allow motor carriers to operate rechargeable wireless temporary stop, turn, and tail lighting systems during temporary emergency towing operations in lieu of hard-wired temporary stop, tail, and turn signal lighting systems. Rechargeable wireless temporary emergency stop, turn, and tail lighting systems do not meet the power supply requirements for lamps in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) which require all required lamps, with the exception of battery-powered lamps used on projecting loads, to be powered by the electrical system of the motor vehicle. Based on improvements in light-emitting diode (LED) technology, coupled with advancements in battery technologies, TowMate believes that rechargeable wireless tow lighting systems will maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved without the exemption. TowMate is requesting the temporary exemption in advance of petitioning FMCSA to conduct a rulemaking to amend 49 CFR 393.23.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 8, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket ID FMCSA-2015-0238 using any of the following methods:
Web site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the Federal electronic docket site.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery: Ground Floor, Room W12-140, DOT Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday-Friday, except Federal holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and docket number for this notice. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and additional information on the exemption process, see the ``Public Participation'' heading below. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Please see the ``Privacy Act'' heading for further information.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or to Room W12-140, DOT Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy.
Public participation: The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is generally available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You may find electronic submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the ``help'' section of the http://www.regulations.gov Web site as well as the DOT's http://docketsinfo.dot.gov Web site. If you would like notification that we received your comments, please include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope or postcard or print the acknowledgment page that appears after submitting comments online.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Luke Loy, Vehicle and Roadside Operations Division, Office of Carrier, Driver, and Vehicle Safety, MC-
PSV, (202) 366-0676, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 4007 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA- 21) Pub. L. 105-178, June 9, 1998, 112 Stat. 401 amended 49 U.S.C. 31315 and 31136(e) to provide authority to grant exemptions from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). On August 20, 2004, FMCSA published a final rule (69 FR 51589) implementing section 4007. Under this rule, FMCSA must publish a notice of each exemption request in the Federal Register (49 CFR 381.315(a)). The Agency must provide the public with an opportunity to inspect the information relevant to the application, including any safety analyses that have been conducted. The Agency must also provide an opportunity for public comment on the request.
The Agency reviews the safety analyses and the public comments and determines whether granting the exemption would likely achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level that would be achieved by the current regulation (49 CFR 381.305).
The decision of the Agency must be published in the Federal Register (49 CFR 381.315(b)). If the Agency denies the request, it must state the reason for doing so. If the decision is to grant the exemption, the notice must specify the person or class of persons receiving the exemption and the regulatory provision or provisions from which an exemption is granted. The notice must specify the effective period of the exemption (up to 2 years) and explain the terms and conditions of the exemption. The exemption may be renewed (49 CFR 381.315(c) and 49 CFR 381.300(b)).
TowMate's Application for Exemption
TowMate has applied for an exemption from 49 CFR 393.23 to allow motor carriers to operate rechargeable wireless temporary stop, turn, and tail lighting systems during temporary emergency towing operations. Such systems do not comply with the requirement that all required lamps, with the exception of battery powered lamps used on projecting loads, must be powered by the electrical system of the motor vehicle. A copy of the application is included in the docket referenced at the beginning of this notice.
Section 393.23 of the FMCSRs, ``Power Supply for lamps,'' provides ``All required lamps must be powered by the electrical system of the motor vehicle with the exception of battery powered lamps used on projecting loads.''
In its application, TowMate states:
TowMate is making this request because the use of conventional hard wired temporary stop, turn, and tail lights has many drawbacks that wireless tow lights solve. These include broken connections, frayed wires, burnt out incandescent bulbs, and the potential to be snagged or pulled from the tow light receptacle due to improper running of wires, and road hazards, along with the safety hazard of increasing the amount of time spent on the roadside or the scene of an accident by stringing wired lighting systems between vehicles and securing the wires.
Page 47032
With the advent of LED technology coupled with advancements in battery technologies, wireless tow lights are more reliable and better equipped for the rigors of daily temporary use.
Temporary wireless stop, turn, tail lighting systems can operate for 10+ hours of continuous use on a full charge, and in-cab wire-
less monitoring systems give the driver constant information on the functioning of the system, displaying state of charge of the battery inside the unit, displaying the functioning of the system during operation, and warning the driver if the unit is no longer functioning. In this sense, wireless tow lights provide a level of safety and redundancy that is not currently required on wired temporary lighting systems. In an emergency situation with a drained battery, power can be directly connected to the temporary wireless stop, turn, and tail lighting system from a standard 4 pin or 7 pin electrical connection.
Without the proposed temporary exemption, tow and haul away operators will be forced to continue to use cumbersome wired temporary towing light systems, placing an unnecessary burden on their daily operations. The current temporary lighting requirements for stop, tail, and turn lamps require that the lamps receive their power from a direct wired connection to the towing vehicle with no ascertainable benefit from doing such. Wireless tow lights afford benefits that wired systems are unable to, such as redundancies like monitoring the status of the unit in real time, thus assuring their proper operation at all times.
The exemption would apply to all motor carriers using rechargeable wireless temporary stop, turn, and tail lighting systems. TowMate believes that use of rechargeable wireless tow lighting systems will maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved without the exemption.
Request for Comments
In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31315 and 31136(e), FMCSA requests public comment from all interested persons on TowMate's application for an exemption from 49 CFR 393.23. All comments received before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated at the beginning of this notice will be considered and will be available for examination in the docket at the location listed under the ADDRESSES section of this notice. Comments received after the comment closing date will be filed in the public docket and will be considered to the extent practicable. In addition to late comments, FMCSA will also continue to file, in the public docket, relevant information that becomes available after the comment closing date. Interested persons should continue to examine the public docket for new material.
Issued on: July 24, 2015.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
FR Doc. 2015-19333 Filed 8-5-15; 8:45 am
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P
