Montana Code 61-9-412. Display of warning devices when vehicle disabled
61-9-412. Display of warning devices when vehicle disabled. (1) Whenever a motor truck, passenger bus, truck, tractor, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer is disabled upon the traveled portion of any highway or the shoulder of a highway outside of any municipality at any time when lighted lamps are required on vehicles, the driver of that vehicle shall display the following warning devices upon the highway during the time the vehicle is disabled on the highway except as provided in subsection (2):
Terms Used In Montana Code 61-9-412
- Bus: means a motor vehicle designed for carrying more than 10 passengers and used for the transportation of persons and any other motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Driver: means a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Explosives: means any chemical compound or mechanical mixture that is commonly used or intended for the purpose of producing an explosion and that contains any oxidizing and combustive units or other ingredients in such proportions, quantities, or packing that an ignition by fire, friction, concussion, percussion, or detonator of any part of the compound or mixture may cause a sudden generation of highly heated gases so that the resultant gaseous pressures are capable of producing destructive effects on contiguous objects or of destroying life or limb. See Montana Code 61-9-102
- Motor vehicle: means :
(i)a vehicle propelled by its own power and designed or used to transport persons or property on the highways of the state;
(ii)a quadricycle if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9; or
(iii)a golf cart only if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9 and is operated pursuant to 61-8-391 or by a person with a low-speed restricted driver's license. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Pole trailer: means a vehicle without power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes, or structural members capable generally of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Semitrailer: means a vehicle, with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and constructed so that some part of its weight and that of its load rests on or is carried by another vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highways for purposes of travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Trailer: means a vehicle, with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and constructed so that no part of its weight rests on the towing vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Vehicle: means a device in, on, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn on a public highway, except devices moved by animal power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Montana Code 61-1-101
(a)A lighted fusee, a lighted red electric lantern, or a portable red emergency reflector must be immediately placed at the traffic side of the vehicle in the direction of the nearest approaching traffic.
(b)As soon as possible after complying with subsection (1)(a), but within the burning period of the fusee (15 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 100 feet from the disabled vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by the vehicle and toward traffic approaching in that lane;
(ii)one approximately 100 feet in the opposite direction from the disabled vehicle and in the center of the traffic lane occupied by the vehicle;
(iii)one at the traffic side of the disabled vehicle not less than 10 feet rearward or forward of the vehicle 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 subsection (1)(b)(i), it may be used for this purpose.
(2)Whenever any vehicle referred to in this section is disabled within 500 feet of a curve, hillcrest, or other obstruction to view, the warning signal in that direction must be placed in order to afford ample warning to other users of the highway but in no case less than 500 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) must be placed as follows:
(a)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;
(b)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;
(c)one at the traffic side of the vehicle and approximately 10 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 of a highway outside of 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, or at a distance of approximately 100 feet in advance of the vehicle, and one at a distance of approximately 100 feet to the rear of the vehicle.
(5)(a) Whenever a motor vehicle used in the transportation of explosives, a cargo tank truck used for the transportation of any flammable liquid or compressed flammable gas, or a motor vehicle using compressed gas as a fuel is disabled upon any highway of this state at any time or place mentioned in subsection (1), the driver of the vehicle shall immediately display 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 100 feet to the front and one placed approximately 100 feet to the rear of the disabled vehicle in the center of the traffic lane occupied by the vehicle.
(b)Flares, fusees, or signals produced by flame may not be used as warning devices for disabled vehicles of the type mentioned in this subsection (5).
(6)The flares, fusees, red electric lanterns, portable red emergency reflectors and flags to be displayed as required in this section must conform with the applicable requirements of 61-9-411.
(7)As used in this section, “flammable liquid” means any liquid that has a flash point of 70 degrees Fahrenheit or less as determined by a Tagliabue or equivalent closed cup test device.