A gentleman is driving a modified tractor across the country on public roads, going slow and towing a RV. This is in support of a charity mission to help veterans, details HERE. He stopped for 2 days and nights by chance less than a mile from our first Amish seller of T-C Ts in Nappanee, Indiana; a stop that was well-covered by media and included a fundraiser. Needless to say, Safety Psychographics thought that this was a near-perfect opportunity to aid his mission by offering to give him a BIG T-C T at no cost in order to make him more visible to traffic behind him. What is inherently working against him is the fact that the RV is a full-size conventional one; a vehicle that typically travels at highway speeds. When such a trailer is only going 15mph or so, many of the following motorists are likely to not notice this dramatic speed differential in time to make the necessary braking so as to not cause problems for themselves, the RV+tractor or the motorists behind them either. “The greater the speed differential between vehicles, the greater the risk of accidents.”

 

Granted, this RV sports 4-way flashers, a yellow roof-mount strobe light and a conventional SMV emblem (in good shape, at least). However, the subconscious message being sent to following motorists is that an RV ahead of you IS going at least close to the speed limit; this, despite the flashing lights and small conventional SMV emblem attempting to get adequate attention… the situation further compounded by 2 distracting big flags waving on the back end and lots of graphics vying for attention. Contrast this with the simpler situation of a motorist approaching an Amish buggy. At least the size, shape and color of the buggy sends additional messages to many motorists to not be expecting it to be going  very fast, and that you would be wise to expect to have to slow down in time for its safe passage. Tri-Color Triangles ™ are a good aid to take up the slack in those circumstances where shape alone may be an insufficient warning, at least by day.

We were not, unfortunately, able to convince this gentleman of the need for taking us up on our offer… partly because it was an unexpected last-minute thing, and partly because his custom-fabricated SMV emblem mount was already competing for space to access the ready removal of his moped atop the bumper. Although drilling 2 holes in the emblem and plate behind it, then utilizing wingnuts for the BIG T-C T would have solved that problem, he was acclimated to the existing setup and declined our offer (at least for now). We hope him the best of luck in avoiding any travel surprises on his journey (and our offer still stands for the BIG T-C T if he changes his mind). Following are more pictures of his vehicles on the road and as they were parked… both with his conventional emblem and temporarily sporting ours for his evaluation. See what you think of the difference. And thank you and credit to WSBT-TV for bringing our attention to this all.