2007 Minnesota Statutes

169.75 FLARES, FLAGS, OR REFLECTORS REQUIRED.
    Subdivision 1. Number required. No person shall operate any motor vehicle towing a travel
trailer, any passenger bus, or any other motor vehicle or combination of vehicles of an actual gross
weight or manufacturer's rated gross weight of more than 10,000 pounds at any location upon
an interstate highway or freeway or upon any other highway outside of a business or residence
district at any time from a half-hour after sunset to a half-hour before sunrise, unless there shall be
carried in such vehicle the following equipment except as otherwise provided in subdivision 2.
At least three flares or three red electric lanterns or three emergency reflective triangles or
three portable red reflector devices, each of which shall be capable of being seen and distinguished
at a distance of 500 feet under normal atmospheric conditions at nighttime.
    Subd. 2. Flammables. No person shall at any time operate a motor vehicle transporting
flammable liquids in bulk or compressed flammable gases as cargo or part of cargo upon a
highway unless it carries three electric lanterns or three emergency reflective triangles or three
portable reflector units to be used in lieu of flares and no open burning flares shall be carried on
or placed adjacent to such vehicle.
    Subd. 3. Flags and reflectors. No person shall operate any motor vehicle towing a travel
trailer, any passenger bus, or any other motor vehicle or combination of vehicles of an actual gross
weight or manufacturer's rated gross weight of more than 10,000 pounds at any location upon
any interstate highway or freeway or upon any other highway outside of a business or residence
district unless there shall be carried in such vehicle at least three emergency reflective triangles or
two red, yellow, or orange flags not less than 12 inches square which shall be displayed at any
time from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset under circumstances which
would require the use of warning lights at night and in the manner and position governing the use
of warning lights as prescribed in subdivision 5, except a flag or reflector is not required to be
displayed at the ten-foot distance.
    Subd. 4. Approved type. Every flare, lantern, signal, reflective triangle or reflector required
in this section shall be of a type approved by the commissioner of public safety.
    Subd. 5. When used. When any vehicle subject to the provisions of subdivision 1 or 3 is
disabled upon the roadway or shoulder at any location upon an interstate highway or freeway, or
upon any other highway outside of a business or residence district during the period when lighted
lamps must be displayed on vehicles and such motor vehicle cannot immediately be removed
from the main traveled portion of the highway or from the shoulder, the driver or other person in
charge of the vehicle shall promptly cause flares, lanterns, or other signals to be lighted and placed
as warning lights upon the highway, one at the traffic side of the standing vehicle approximately
ten feet rearward or forward thereof in the direction of greatest hazard to traffic, one at a distance
of approximately 100 feet to the rear of the vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by such
vehicle, and one at a distance of approximately 100 feet to the front of the vehicle in the center of
the traffic lane occupied by such vehicle, except:
(1) if disablement of any vehicle occurs within 500 feet of a curve, crest of a hill or other
obstruction to view, the driver or other person in charge shall so place the warning signal in that
direction so as to offer ample warning to other users of the highway but in no case less than 100
feet nor more than 500 feet from the disabled vehicle;
(2) if disablement of the vehicle occurs upon the roadway or shoulder of any one-way
roadway of any highway, the driver or other person in charge shall place one warning signal at the
traffic side of the vehicle not more than ten feet to the rear of the vehicle, one placed 100 feet to
the rear of the vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by the standing vehicle, and one such
signal at a distance of approximately 200 feet to the rear of the vehicle.
History: (2720-264) 1937 c 464 s 114; 1939 c 430 s 23; 1947 c 428 s 32; 1949 c 656; 1967
c 383 s 1-3; 1971 c 491 s 28; 1978 c 494 s 5; 1989 c 342 s 18,19