46.37.450 - Disabled vehicle -- Display of warning devices.

Disabled vehicle — Display of warning devices.

(1) Whenever any motor truck, passenger bus, truck tractor over eighty inches in overall width, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer is disabled upon the traveled portion of any highway or the shoulder thereof outside any municipality at any time when lighted lamps are required on vehicles, the driver of such vehicle shall display the following warning devices upon the highway during the time the vehicle is so disabled on the highway except as provided in subsection (2) of this section:

     (a) A lighted fusee, a lighted red electric lantern, or a portable red emergency reflector shall be immediately placed at the traffic side of the vehicle in the direction of the nearest approaching traffic.

     (b) As soon thereafter as possible but in any event within the burning period of the fusee (fifteen minutes), the driver shall place three liquid-burning flares (pot torches), three lighted red electric lanterns, or three portable red emergency reflectors on the traveled portion of the highway in the following order:

     (i) One, approximately one hundred feet from the disabled vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by such vehicle and toward traffic approaching in that lane.

     (ii) One, approximately one hundred feet in the opposite direction from the disabled vehicle and in the center of the traffic lane occupied by such vehicle.

     (iii) One at the traffic side of the disabled vehicle not less than ten feet rearward or forward thereof in the direction of the nearest approaching traffic. If a lighted red electric lantern or a red portable emergency reflector has been placed at the traffic side of the vehicle in accordance with subdivision (a) of this subsection, it may be used for this purpose.

     (2) Whenever any vehicle referred to in this section is disabled within five hundred feet of a curve, hillcrest, or other obstruction to view, the warning signal in that direction shall be so placed as to afford ample warning to other users of the highway, but in no case less than five hundred feet from the disabled vehicle.

     (3) Whenever any vehicle of a type referred to in this section is disabled upon any roadway of a divided highway during the time that lights are required, the appropriate warning devices prescribed in subsections (1) and (5) of this section shall be placed as follows:

     One at a distance of approximately two hundred feet from the vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by the stopped vehicle and in the direction of traffic approaching in that lane; one at a distance of approximately one hundred feet from the vehicle, in the center of the lane occupied by the vehicle and in the direction of traffic approaching in that lane; and one at the traffic side of the vehicle and approximately ten feet from the vehicle in the direction of the nearest approaching traffic.

     (4) Whenever any vehicle of a type referred to in this section is disabled upon the traveled portion of a highway or the shoulder thereof outside any municipality at any time when the display of fusees, flares, red electric lanterns, or portable red emergency reflectors is not required, the driver of the vehicle shall display two red flags upon the roadway in the lane of traffic occupied by the disabled vehicle, one at a distance of approximately one hundred feet in advance of the vehicle, and one at a distance of approximately one hundred feet to the rear of the vehicle.

     (5) Whenever any motor vehicle used in the transportation of explosives or any cargo tank truck used for the transportation of any flammable liquid or compressed flammable gas, or any motor vehicle using compressed gas as a fuel, is disabled upon a highway of this state at any time or place mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, the driver of such vehicle shall immediately display the following warning devices: One red electric lantern or portable red emergency reflector placed on the roadway at the traffic side of the vehicle, and two red electric lanterns or portable red reflectors, one placed approximately one hundred feet to the front and one placed approximately one hundred feet to the rear of this disabled vehicle in the center of the traffic lane occupied by such vehicle. Flares, fusees, or signals produced by flame shall not be used as warning devices for disabled vehicles of the type mentioned in this subsection.

     (6) Whenever any vehicle, other than those described in subsection (1) of this section, is disabled upon the traveled portion of any highway or shoulder thereof outside any municipality, the state patrol or the county sheriff shall, upon discovery of the disabled vehicle, place a reflectorized warning device on the vehicle. The warning device and its placement shall be in accordance with rules adopted by the state patrol. Neither the standards for, placement or use of, nor the lack of placement or use of a warning device under this subsection gives rise to any civil liability on the part of the state of Washington, the state patrol, any county, or any law enforcement agency or officer.

     (7) The flares, fusees, red electric lanterns, portable red emergency reflectors, and flags to be displayed as required in this section shall conform with the requirements of RCW 46.37.440 applicable thereto.

[1987 c 330 § 725; 1987 c 226 § 1; 1984 c 119 § 1; 1961 c 12 § 46.37.450. Prior: 1955 c 269 § 45; prior: 1947 c 267 § 7, part; Rem. Supp. 1947 § 6360-32a, part; RCW 46.40.210, part.]

Notes: Reviser's note: This section was amended by 1987 c 226 § 1 and by 1987 c 330 § 725, each without reference to the other. Both amendments are incorporated in the publication of this section under RCW 1.12.025(2). For rule of construction, see RCW 1.12.025(1).

Construction -- Application of rules -- Severability -- 1987 c 330: See notes following RCW 28B.12.050.