Warning triangle a necessity

POLOKWANE – Residents have reported a message that has been circulating stating that if a traffic official pulls you over and you do not have a red triangle in your vehicle, you will be fined.

Per Regulation 214 of the National Road Traffic Regulations 93 of 1996, vehicles first registered on 1 July 2006 and thereafter must carry at least one emergency warning triangle. This excludes vehicles first registered before 1 July 2005.

“Technically, we as traffic officers cannot write out a ticket for a vehicle registered before 2006 without a triangle however, those vehicles are more likely to break down as they are older. This means they stand in-or next to the road without a warning triangle which may result in a serious accident as other vehicles will not see the obstruction,” explains a traffic official who cannot be named since, according to his contract, he is not allowed to speak to the media.

A warning triangle is a passive reflector that is made of a plastic reflective material. When a vehicle experiences sudden failure and shut down for maintenance, or an accident occurs, these triangles should be used.

“This law previously only applied to commercial vehicles. “It now applies to all vehicles. If the vehicle is broken down and stationary on any portion of a public road, one triangle must be placed on the roadway at least 45 m from the back of the vehicle, facing traffic approaching from the rear,” Ryno Jardin from Polokwane Toyota explains.

Regulations are as follows:

• Each side of your triangle must be 500 mm long and 50 mm wide, with a thickness of roughly 5 mm.
• The triangle must be uniformly covered in red reflective material.
• The back of the triangle must either be uniformly white, or have a 5 mm-wide white border.
• The edge of the triangle must be yellow.
• The reflective surfaces must be well-maintained.
• The triangle must be visible from at least 100 m in the presence of light.

maretha@nmgroup.co.za