A Safety Lesson Learned

[ralphnjoann]

DW and I were driving down the Interstate when the truck died and we had to coast over to the shoulder. I put on the emergency flashers and got out to see what the problem was and the whole time I was out, vehicles in the right hand lane were flying by at breakneck speeds. It was dangerous to say the least.

I recalled that we had one of those folding orange reflective
emergency triangles with us so DW walked back and set it up. The change in traffic was dramatic. Virtually all of the 18 wheelers, and most of the other traffic moved into the left lane before passing us.

I know truckers are required by law to carry and use these triangles, and I think RVers are too. But even if not, they are well worth having.

[Pangaea_Ron]

It's also a good idea to have a reflective vest available, and also store that together with the flares and reflective triangles in a compartment on the right side of the RV.

[SpeakEasy]

Excellent suggestion. I'm going to go out today and pick up some of those triangles. Last summer we had a tire blowout, and I found myself in exactly the situation you are describing. It was frightening, and I'm not easily frightened. All I had was a flare, and I couldn't get it to light. I had DW call 911 and get us police protection. That worked out really well, but until he arrived, we were definitely "in harm's way."

Thanks for posting this.

-Speak

[SoundGuy]

4-way flashers are meagre at best, especially if you've got a trailer hitched to your truck, ergo the reason I built a Trailer Lights Dongle (4 pics) which flash ALL the lights on the trailer. I use mine every time I back the trailer off the street and on to our driveway but also have it available should an occasion ever arise where I have to pull over to the side of the highway. If I'm forced to leave the trailer in order to seek assistance the dongle will continue to flash ALL the trailer lights as it's powered by the trailer battery, not the truck. :B

[Jack_Diane_Free]

We carry the triangles with us always along with flares.

[gbopp]

Excellent point. Thanks for sharing.

Anything you can do to increase safety while stopped along the road is worth the effort.