Cycling UK Forum

I was browsing in my favourite shop - TKMaxx - the other day and they had a warning triangle for sale. "You never know when you might need it" was my first thought, but then I thought that in almost 50 years driving, I've never missed having one and I doubt if I have seen one in use more than a couple of times.

I know they are compulsory in parts of €urope and it seems that in Spain you need two but I've no immediate travel plans.

Has anybody any experience of having their life saved by one of these?

The HC includes this

Breakdowns
274
If your vehicle breaks down, think first of all other road users and ...put a warning triangle on the road at least 45 metres (147 feet) behind your broken-down vehicle on the same side of the road ....

thirdcrank wrote:Has anybody any experience of having their life saved by one of these?

i would view thiose claims in the same light as those made for other 'i'd be dead but for my ****** claims.

however, if you need to clean your rotor arm or mend a puncture around a blind bend in what's posted as a national speed limit road, i can see it being reassuring and possibly essential.

it's not much money compared to the costs of motoring, nor any significant space or weight

I have had them as standard equipment in a few cars that I have owned (there's one in the boot of the Saab 9-5 I have now), I have never had the need to use them though I suppose it's nice to know you have one if you ever need it.

Never owned one and never intend to own one.

You'll be telling me to have a full set of light bulbs in a box in my boot next. 78,000miles in our Clio in 11years and not once has one single bulb blown.

.......... and we've had only one puncture, and that was found one morning before we left the house!

Mick F wrote:Never owned one and never intend to own one.

You'll be telling me to have a full set of light bulbs in a box in my boot next. 78,000miles in our Clio in 11years and not once has one single bulb blown.

.......... and we've had only one puncture, and that was found one morning before we left the house!

Now I'm just the opposite - I seem to have had more blown bulbs these recent years than before. The daughters car has had 2 dipped lights and 2 rear lights blown since she has had her car, 4 years from new.

I do carry a triangle but that was brought about because of journeys to France and also a box of bulbs.
I now also have reflective jackets in the car, also as that's now a French requirement.

I can see a definate need for one if brokendown in some dangerous situation,I've never needed mine but its nice to know its there if needed.

Micks life seems fairly uneventful,it must be the Cornish way of life,never breaks down never has a bulb fail,never punctures either on the bike or in the car,hmmm,well,err

.............. and it didn't snow today, nor was it cold, nor icy neither.

You lot Up North can stay there if you want.

Mick F wrote:.............. and it didn't snow today, nor was it cold, nor icy neither.

You lot Up North can stay there if you want.

I used a triangle once when I had to change an off-side wheel on a country road. Did it save my life? I don't know - the hazard lights would have given warning that something was amiss. But I found it reassuring to have the triangle placed almost on the white line, to make sure other traffic gave me enough space when passing.

LollyKat wrote: ... But I found it reassuring to have the triangle placed almost on the white line, to make sure other traffic gave me enough space when passing.

It wasn't 147 feet behind you then?

It's interesting to hear from somebody who has actually used (deployed?) one of these, because I see plenty advertised, but very few in use. By very few I mean perhaps two or three in a lifetime of driving. I suppose most people just bang on the hazards, even when it's only because they are parking where they should not do so. That leads me to note that a triangle might be particularly useful with an electrical fault or a prolonged stoppage which fight flatten the battery.

A sleepy driver hitting a warning triangle perhaps has time to rouse and avoid the hazard - the triangle user on hearing the demise of said triangle can perhaps leg it. Hazard warning lights do not have the above benefit.

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I stopped to help a driver stuck in a hedge one night. The road was dark so I put my warning triangle, bought for continental driving in the road around the blind bend before the incident and illuminated it with a large multi light complete with flashy yellow light and aimed the white beam at the triangle. The first police car to arrive ran over them both. Nuff sed!

thirdcrank wrote:

LollyKat wrote: ... But I found it reassuring to have the triangle placed almost on the white line, to make sure other traffic gave me enough space when passing.

It wasn't 147 feet behind you then?

No, not as far as that - I placed it where I thought it would give me most "protection".

Years ago, in the days before hazard warning lights, I saw a few used - at the time I thought they really did improve safety, but maybe that was just my perception.

byegad wrote: .... The first police car to arrive ran over them both. Nuff sed!

That's the obvious answer to why few people stand these in the road: they don't want them running over by a car! What's probably needed, then, is some sort of warning to protect the warning triangle. Perhaps this is why two triangles are mandatory in Spain: the first protects the second

LollyKat - What you did seems sensible to me: I was just bemused by the HC advising that a triangle should be set up 147 feet away. It's a metric conversion but a silly one.

Saw one in use on hardshoulder of M6 today, as much use as a chocolate tea pot, they had put it less than 6" from the rear of the car... if that it was so close!