WASHINGTON – A brake-light technology company focused on reducing rear-end truck crashes got another boost from regulators with a ruling that two private fleets can deploy its equipment even though it is at odds with current rules.
Intellistop, which makes a module that briefly pulses a truck’s brake lights immediately after the brakes are engaged, was denied an exemption by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2022 to deploy its technology. Current FMCSA regulations do not allow pulsing brake lights.
But after approving limited five-year exemptions in 2024 (Gemini Motor Transport and Encore Building Products), FMCSA on Tuesday followed with five-year exemptions to the private fleet subsidiaries of Iowa-based convenience store operator Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ GS: CASY) and Sugar Land, Texas-based petroleum refining and marketing company CVR Energy (NYSE: CVI).
“In the last four years we have been involved in 17 collisions where our truck was struck in the rear end by another vehicle, with damage to our equipment in excess of $500,000,” according to Casey’s Services Co., which hauls fuel for its parent company’s retail outlets.
“This would not include damages and injuries to the other party that struck us. We feel that with the use of Intellistop, these types of collisions will be greatly reduced,” the company noted, while also reducing its “potential exposure to litigation.”
CRV Energy’s Coffeyville Resources Crude Transportation, which operates a “crude” fleet and a “highway” fleet, told FMCSA it plans to use the exemption for the highway fleet only.
“The two different fleets, one running the exemption and one not, will allow us a good comparison between the two internal fleets on crash reduction and maintenance of the module itself,” the company stated in its application.
In approving the exemption for Coffeyville, FMCSA agreed that the plan to restrict it to a limited portion of the company’s fleet will provide valuable data on the safety value of pulsating brake lights.
“Data collected through this exemption and any other similar exemptions the agency may grant in the future will allow for an evaluation of how the Intellistop module may improve following-vehicle driver responses to CMV [commercial motor vehicle] braking.”
Rear-end crashes account for approximately 30% of all crashes, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and can result from a failure or delay in responding to a stopped or decelerating lead vehicle. “Data on crashes that occurred between 2010 and 2016 show that large trucks are consistently three times more likely than other vehicles to be struck in the rear in two-vehicle fatal crashes,” FMCSA stated in its approval notice.
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