Family-owned towing company, Ready Towing, recently partnered with Brisbane-based lighting provider, OzLED, to put safety first with a new high-tech lighting system.
Ready Towing’s new Hino FD Super Low Tilt Tray setup, designed by ATB Engineering and illuminated by OzLED, joins a fleet of more than 240 vehicles, but with around 86 high-tech amber flashing lights it’s now the brightest in the southern hemisphere.
Hazard lighting is a critical component on a tow truck, keeping operators and road users safe, but never has the technology been more programmable as the towing industry turns to emergency-grade solutions.
The latest mPower lights fitted to Ready Towing’s flagship truck are the first optic-grade, silicone lens lights and are ‘virtually shatterproof’ making them perfect for emergency and extreme-duty applications.
In terms of the technology itself, OzLED Business Development Manager Tyler Boyle explains that the mPower is made by Soundoff Signal in the USA and is the most advanced warning light system available in Australia.
“This is the first vehicle in the southern hemisphere with this amount of warning lights, using the new 3-wire LIN technology mPower warning lights, and it’s the first in Australia to feature all of this on one vehicle,” he said.
“Here is how the 3-wire technology works: The red wire goes to main power, the black wire goes to earth and the Green LIN wire will go back to our control system which allows us to do over 24 different flash patterns, brake, tail, indicator, reverse, front, side and rear markers, scene lighting, directional warning and dim functions.”
Silicone LED lights are ‘squishy’, allowing improved sealing, flexibility and impact resistance, but they also throw an incredible amount of light with clarity in all situations. For roadside applications like tow trucks, Tyler says they’re a game changer.
“It’s the same compound as bulletproof glass, so it’s designed not to crack and it won’t go yellow, so police around Australia buy thousands of these a year,” he said.
“In terms of safety though, in situations where it needs to be dimmed or changed to a traffic arrow, it can all easily be programmed in so they can hit a switch and it’ll send an arrow down the side of the vehicle, for example.
“We can also do scene lighting with them, so for example if you open a door all the lights on the right side will go steady white, meaning an operator can see the ground around them. It’s all automated.”
The lucky operator of the new tow rig is Mathew Ready Jnr, On-Roads Operations Manager at Ready Towing, and he explains that the high-tech lighting is all about improving road safety.
“As Queensland’s roads become increasingly congested, the safety of tow truck drivers is a growing concern,” he said.
“To enhance safety, Ready Towing has begun an upgrade of emergency warning lights on its fleet, partnering with OzLED, which offers a range of effective emergency lighting solutions.
“The Bright Flash lighting is designed to be effective during both day and night, providing clear warnings to oncoming traffic.”
While the OzLED lighting system is only fitted to the firm’s flagship model at the moment, Ready Towing plans to implement it on all new builds.
“The intuitive control system, accessible from both inside and outside the trucks, will soon be implemented across all new vehicles in the fleet,” Mathew said.
“The installation process was streamlined thanks to OzLED’s expertise, making it easy to configure layouts and patterns that best fit Ready Towing’s needs.”
Ready Towing remains a dominant player within the competitive towing industry, some 63 years after it was founded, but it’s the company’s commitment to using the latest safety technology that sets them apart.
“Ready Towing’s commitment to embracing technology, such as OzLED’s advanced lighting solutions, plays a crucial role in maintaining a reputation as an exclusive Contracted Service Provider for many of Australia’s insurance companies,” Mathew said.
Check the lights out, below!
