Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Low Speed Vehicles; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Resumo

This document responds to a petition for rulemaking from General Motors Corporation concerning low-speed vehicles. A low-speed vehicle is defined as a four-wheeled vehicle, other than a truck, whose maximum speed is between 20 and 25 miles per hour. The petitioner requested that the agency initiate rulemaking to amend the Federal motor vehicle safety standard for low-speed vehicles to require those vehicles to bear a label identifying safety hazards associated with the operation of low-speed vehicles in mixed traffic, i.e., on roads used by regular vehicles, and to be equipped with additional conspicuity features to make low-speed vehicles more visible to other vehicles. The agency is granting both requests. In this document, the agency is proposing to amend the standard to require low-speed vehicles to bear a warning label to ensure that drivers of those vehicles are alerted to the hazards associated with the operation of low-speed vehicles in mixed traffic. The agency is also proposing that low-speed vehicles be equipped with reflex reflectors or retroreflective conspicuity sheeting, a slow-moving vehicle emblem, and headlamps, taillamps, and side marker lamps that are illuminate