§ 41-6a-1638. Warning signal around disabled vehicle -- Time and place.

(1)

(a) When a truck, bus, truck-tractor, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer 80 inches or more in over-all width or 30 feet or more in over-all length is stopped on a roadway or adjacent shoulder, the operator shall immediately actuate vehicular hazard warning signal lamps meeting the requirements of Section 41-6a-1611.

(b) The signal lights need not be displayed by a vehicle:

(i) parked lawfully in an urban district;

(ii) stopped lawfully to receive or discharge passengers;

(iii) stopped to avoid conflict with other traffic or to comply with the directions of a peace officer or an official traffic-control device; or

(iv) while the devices specified in Subsections (2) through (6) are in place.

(2)

(a) Except as provided in Subsection (3), if a vehicle of a type specified under Subsection (1) is disabled or stopped for more than 10 minutes on a roadway outside of an urban district under the conditions specified under Subsection 41-6a-1603(1), the operator of the vehicle shall display the following warning devices:

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

(ii) as soon as possible after placing the warning devices under Subsection (2)(a)(i) but within the burning period of the fusee (15 minutes), the driver shall place three liquid-burning flares (pot torches), or three lighted red electric lanterns, or three portable red emergency reflectors on the roadway in the following order:

(A) one approximately 100 feet from the disabled vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by the vehicle and toward traffic approaching in that lane;

(B) one approximately 100 feet in the opposite direction from the disabled vehicle and in the center of the traffic lane occupied by the vehicle; and

(C) one at the traffic side of the disabled vehicle not less than 10 feet rearward or forward of the disabled vehicle in the direction of the nearest approaching traffic.

(b) 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 Subsection (2)(a)(ii)(A), a rearward lantern or reflector under Subsection (2)(a)(ii)(C) is not required.

(3) If a vehicle specified under this section is disabled, or stopped for more than 10 minutes:

(a) within 500 feet of a curve, hillcrest, or other obstruction to view, the warning device in that direction shall be placed to afford ample warning to other users of the highway, but in no case less than 100 feet or more than 500 feet from the disabled vehicle;

(b) on a roadway of a divided highway under the conditions specified under Subsection 41-6a-1603(1), the appropriate warning devices required under Subsections (2) and (4) shall be placed as follows:

(i) one at a distance of approximately 200 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;

(ii) one at a distance of approximately 100 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

(iii) one at the traffic side of the vehicle and approximately 10 feet from the vehicle in the direction of the nearest approaching traffic; or

(c) on a roadway outside of an urban district or on the roadway of a divided highway not under the conditions specified under Subsection 41-6a-1603(1), the driver of the vehicle shall display two red flags as follows:

(i) if traffic on the roadway moves in two directions, one flag shall be placed approximately 100 feet to the rear and one flag approximately 100 feet in advance of the vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by the vehicle; or

(ii) on a one-way roadway, one flag shall be placed approximately 100 feet and one flag approximately 200 feet to the rear of the vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by the vehicle.

(4) When a motor vehicle used in the transportation of explosives or any cargo tank truck used for the transportation of any flammable liquid or compressed gas is disabled, or stopped for more than 10 minutes, at any time and place specified under Subsection (2) or (3), the operator of the vehicle shall immediately display red electric lanterns or portable red emergency reflectors in the same number and manner as specified in Subsection (2) or (3).

(5) The warning devices specified under Subsections (2) through (4) are not required to be displayed where there is sufficient light to reveal persons and vehicles within a distance of 1,000 feet.

(6) If a vehicle described under this section is stopped entirely off the roadway and on an adjacent shoulder, the warning devices shall be placed, as nearly as practicable, on the shoulder near the edge of the roadway.

Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 2, 2005 General Session