On Wednesday, October 15, 2014 9:58:15 PM UTC-4, N8N wrote:
On Wednesday, October 15, 2014 8:36:22 PM UTC-4, J Burns wrote:

On 10/15/14, 7:56 PM, wrote:



And red reflective tape on the front of a car is ILLEGAL.







Where is it illegal?





I would assume verywhere in the US. Red is reserved for the rear, amber or white only on the front. That is definitely true for lights; I would assume the same would be true for retroreflective sheeting. If nothing else, it's a spectacularly bad idea, as it gives a conflicting message to other road users - red indicates the rear of a vehicle, therefore it ought to be moving away from the viewer, but in reality it's the front and it's not.



Other colors (blue, green, etc.) are illegal as well; blue because it is reserved for emergency vehicles and other colors simply because they have no function assigned.



If you wish to research this in more depth, start with FMVSS 108, that is the basic document that lays out requirements for lighting and conspicuity devices for road vehicles.



nate

To add; I've used 3M retroreflective tape on both bicycles and cars; I've done "DIY wheel reflectors" with it on some racey type wheels (Velocity Deep V's) looks Fredly but better Fred than dead. I also added a red/white stripe on the latch area of the doors just in case I miss a car approaching from the rear when parallel parking and I throw the driver's door open (my car is a coupe with long doors, and there aren't any factory supplied lights or reflectors on the doors other than "puddle lights" - an oversight IMHO on the part of the usually thorough and rigorous Krauts.)

I would actually call your plan a good idea assuming you don't mind the look - as long as you change the red tape above the windshield to white or amber.

nate