Dan Lang
| Staff ReporterTMC Ready on Impact Guard Proposal
TAMPA, Fla. — It could be a RIG or it could be a RUG, but the difference appears to be a minor issue compared with an ongoing debate over how it should be maintained.
Repair techniques for keeping rear impact guards — RIGs — compliant with regulations administered by the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety were discussed at an Oct. 14 session of The Maintenance Council’s four-day fall meeting. The guards — sometimes called rear underride guards or RUGs — are the subject of a proposed recommended practice from the council, an affiliate of American Trucking Associations ("TMC Readies Recommendation on Impact Guards," 9-27, p. 22).
While the recommended practice was pronounced ready for a vote by the membership, Larry Strawhorn, ATA’s vice president of engineering, warned council members that the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association has so far withheld its endorsement.
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Michael James - Transport Topics | |
TMC is poised to vote on maintenance requirements for impact guards that are out of shape. |
Regulations spelling out the dimensions for RIGs — bumpers on the backs of trailers that prevent smaller vehicles from going under the trailer in a rear-end collision — were adopted Oct. 1 by the OMCHS.