FMCSA Grants Exemption for Windshield Placement of Lane Departure, Collision Avoidance Systems

Federal regulators have granted a two-year extension of an exemption allowing motor carriers to mount lane departure and collision mitigation system cameras lower in the windshields of commercial motor vehicles than is currently permitted by regulation.

In an announcement scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Dec. 7, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said the exemption is effective Nov. 18.

The agency will accept comments in opposition to the exemption for 30 days.

The posting extends a 2013 exemption to use Takata, Iteris or any systems the same size or smaller. 

FMCSA said it is granting the exemption because there has been no indication that the sensors would obstruct drivers’ views of the roadway, highway signs and surrounding traffic. Generally, trucks and buses have an elevated seating position that greatly improves the forward visual field of the driver, and the location within the top two inches of the area swept by the windshield wiper and out of the driver’s normal sightline will be reasonable and enforceable at roadside.

“The agency is unaware of any incidents wherein a crash involving vehicles equipped with these lane-departure warning systems could be attributed to the minimal visual intrusion of the devices into the drivers’ field of vision,” the agency said.

Motor carriers using lane-departure warning systems and collision-mitigation systems with sensors measuring 2 inches by 3.5 inches or smaller must ensure that the sensors are mounted not more than 2 inches below the upper edge of the area swept by the windshield wipers, and outside the driver’s sightlines to the road and highway signs and signals.