High-visibility Clothing for Highway Workers Mandatory by Dec. 31



photo by Earl Dotter

On December 16, 2009, The Federal Register Final Rule and revised document of the 2009 Manual on Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) was released, marking the final phase-in for compliance on all public roads that are not federal-aid highways by Dec. 31, 2011. The regulation for federal-aid highways has been in force since November 2008.

The purpose of the regulation is to decrease the likelihood of worker fatalities or injuries caused by motor vehicles and construction vehicles and equipment while working within the right-of-way on highways whether they’re federally aided or not. The definitions described are as follows:

Workers - people on foot whose duties place them within the right-of-way of a Federal-aid highway, such as highway construction and maintenance forces, survey crews, utility crews, responders to incidents within the highway right-of-way, and law enforcement personnel when directing traffic, investigating crashes, and handling lane closures, obstructed roadways, and disasters within the right-of-way of a Federal- aid highway.

Close proximity - within the highway right-of-way on Federal-aid highways.

High-visibility safety apparel - personal protective safety clothing that is intended to provide conspicuity during both daytime and nighttime usage, and that meets the Performance Class 2 or 3 requirements of the ANSI/ ISEA 107–2004 publication entitled ‘‘American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel and Headwear.’’ Go to the U.S. National Archives for more information.

The rule for federal aid highways states that “all workers within the right-of-way of a Federal-aid highway who are exposed either to traffic (vehicles using the highway for purposes of travel) or to construction equipment within the work area shall wear high-visibility safety apparel."

HiVis Supply is a reseller of high visibility apparel including ANSI approved clothing, safety vests, traffic vests, hivis vests, ANSI Class 2, ANSI Class 3, ANSI 107-2004, ANSI 207, ANSI Class E, public safety vests. Visit our store for all of your high visibility apparel needs, call or email.

5 tips for Winter Driving Safety

With autumn waning, and winter just around the corner, driving becomes a major factor in road and safety awareness. Keeping your automobile in good working condition over the winter months allows for a higher degree of safety, and staying visible is no flippant task.

Pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and drivers all need to do their part because seeing each other is the first tenant of safety. Hi visibility safety vests should be worn by walkers, cyclists, school crosswalk workers, road-side construction and first responder teams.

Here are some simple precautions drivers can take in reference to maintenance and driving safety:

Get a tune-up – Avoid, to the best of your ability, having roadside issues in the first place. Maintaining a vehicle will lessen the chances of becoming stranded, thereby creating a dangerous situation.

Use your lights – In some countries, they use their headlights at all times, and why not? It’s just a simple habit that you could get into, but especially in the darker, winter months.

Check your tires – Wear and tear on your tires happens in the summer months as well, but remember, tires are your only contact with the road. In the winter, not only rainy but slushy and snowy wintry weather adds to the driving danger.

Have your brakes checked – You may need to stop readily, and having your brakes in tip-top condition is crucial. Luckily, sometimes all you need are pads replaced, and replacement of pads saves the discs. Maintaining your brakes will save you a lot of money over the long haul also.

Maintain a safe distance – This one goes hand in hand with having your brakes checked. When you have good brakes, you know that you can stop when you need to – in perfect conditions. But in wintry weather, conditions are often wet, slippery and icy, causing brake distances to be longer. Stay further back than you regularly would and remember to look ahead of the car you’re immediately behind.

Hi Vis Supply is dedicated to serving the public through safety education but also by providing solutions to keep you safe when visibility is low – whether you’re taking a walk, cleaning a parking lot or repairing America’s road system. Check out these and other products for pedestrian and driver safety.

"Texting While Driving Kills."

On Wednesday, May 19, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was joined by US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin, US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, and FocusDriven founder and President Jennifer Smith. Together they announced a Global Call to Action on Ending Distracted Driving.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urgently insisted “We Must Instill a Culture of Road Safety.”

He then proceeded to give some statistics on car fatalities:

• 1.2 million people around the world die in car accidents
• Nearly 50,000,000 injuries
• 90% are from low or little income countries

Car accidents are now the top global killer of young people ages 15-19 with factors that include:

• High speeds
• Drunk driving
• No seat belt or child restraint used
• No motorcycle helmet used

The General Secretary stated that, "Use of a mobile phone while driving increases the risk of a crash by 4 times, (while in) some countries 90% of drivers report using mobile phones while driving.
"Culturally," he said, "We must make 'distracted driving unacceptable' by the government and socially unacceptable to the public.
“I want every driver in the world to get the message, ‘Texting while driving kills.’”

The UN initiative will work to promote road safety and while prohibiting nearly 40,000 UN employees from texting while driving UN vehicles. The UN General Assembly has also declared a “Decade of Action for Road Safety,” including a message to all drivers of the world; “Don’t let using a mobile for a few seconds make you and others immobile for life.”

The US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice continued to say that in the US in 2008, nearly 6,000 people died in distracted driving crashes, but the statistics are hard to come by, since it isn't always readily apparent the reason why the accident took place.

She also said that studies by researchers at the University of Utah show that using a cell phone while driving delays a driver’s reactions as much as having alcohol in your blood up to the legal limit of 0.8%.

Hi Vis Supply concerns itself with all matters pertaining to roadways, particularly with that of roadside construction, and increasingly that of distracted driving, and believe that awareness will lead to prevention in the US and across the globe.