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Comment by Kathy Williams on April 2, 2010 at 11:01am

It is certainly true that people often don't know what their mirrors are for (to see other traffic), they don't check them (to see changing traffic conditions like spotting a big red truck coming), they don't know enough to move over and stop, and they are often listening to music so loud they can't hear the sirens. They are often distracted by medications, in-vehicle activities, activities outside the vehicle, or daydreaming, or whatever (being contacted by "martians" who knows with some people??) that they are not paying proper attention to their driving. Even though what is coming is, as Jason says, a huge red truck with flashing lights all over it, they will not react appropriately, with or without reflective markings.

However, I believe that the reflective striping is excellent at night in improving visibility of the vehicle, and also making it much easier to spot when the fire apparatus is parked. All of the above reasons for inattention are magnified at night, in other words, people are even worse at night, and added to that are the people that can't see properly to drive at night but do so anyway. In my book, anything that improves the visibility of the fire apparatus and firefighters is excellent. I don't think it detracts from the attractiveness of the vehicles and it adds to safety.

As a matter of fact, I added reflective striping to all four sides of my personal vehicle (it is in good taste, it is the subtle reflective silver one, not the bright in-your-face yellow/red one, it blends in with the silver paint on my vehicle in the day, and provides much greater safety for me driving or parking at night, in that my vehicle is not hit by another driver).

Comment by Jason Edwards on April 1, 2010 at 8:59am

Sure the striping makes you more visible; particularly at night if it's the reflective ScotchLite variety and once we're all used to it, we won't mind the looks so much. Our department has been taking delivery on these striped apparatus' for at least a year now. However, if people don't (I didn't say "can't") see a huge red truck with flashing lights all over it, I can't imagine the stripes are going to make much difference. If you're on scene and checking out the stripe job on your new truck, don't do so UNTIL YOU'VE LOOKED FOR CARS COMING AT YOU!! :)

I almost got creamed setting my wheel chocks a couple of months ago because one of our beloved tax paying citizens was so busy trying to crane his neck to see why all the trucks were there, that he almost hit me, side-swiped my truck and ran over a section of our 5" supply line.

We can't fix STUPID!! All we can do is our very best to stay out of the way of it. Stay aware and stay safe!

Comment by Kurt Becker on March 31, 2010 at 2:26pm

At first i thought this was a bad idea, bringing down the trucks looks and design, but after my department replaced its 95 foot tower ladder it was then mandatory that all rigs have the striping, so the company came up with an idea, the american flag on the back of the rig, it looks amazing, and after seeing it at numerous alarms i think the company went the right way with the striping, it is highly visible during the night, and looks like a regular paint job during the day, i think this is a great idea and it is going to limit fireground injuries, if the company does not like the striping then they should talk to the manafacturer about different patters, colors, layouts and ideas

Comment by Mark Klaene on March 27, 2010 at 5:18pm

I had serious doubts about this at first . was it actually telling drivers what we wanted them to know. I am still not convinced about how drivers are interrupting it but I know one thing it sure makes the vehicle stand out regardless of lights and with lights it is not overpowered. Arrow sticks (which I think are very useful) do get loss mixed in with the chevron. This is likely more of an issue with the light stick than the Chevron but the jury is still out on this until I see it addressed and someone try to solve the problem.