Fla. Stat. § 316.301 — Florida Code / Title XXIII / Chapter 316 / Section 316.301
316.301 Display of warning lights and devices when vehicle is stopped or disabled.
Status: in_force

(1) Whenever any truck, bus, truck tractor, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer 80 inches or more in overall width or 30 feet or more in overall length is stopped upon a roadway or adjacent shoulder, the driver shall immediately actuate vehicular hazard-warning signal lamps meeting the requirements of this chapter. Such lights need not be displayed by a vehicle parked lawfully in an urban district, or stopped lawfully to receive or discharge passengers, or stopped to avoid conflict with other traffic or to comply with the directions of a police officer or an official traffic control device, or while the devices specified in subsections (2)-(8) are in place.

(2) Whenever any vehicle of a type referred to in subsection (1) is disabled, or stopped for more than 10 minutes, upon a roadway outside an urban district at any time when lighted lamps are required, the driver of such vehicle shall display the following warning devices except as provided in subsection (3): (a) 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. (b) As soon thereafter as possible but in any event 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: 1. One approximately 100 feet from the disabled vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by such vehicle and toward traffic approaching in that lane; 2. One approximately 100 feet in the opposite direction from the disabled vehicle and in the center of the traffic lane occupied by such vehicle; and 3. One at the traffic side of the disabled vehicle not less than 10 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 paragraph (a), it may be used for this purpose.

(3) Whenever any vehicle referred to in this section is disabled, or stopped for more than 10 minutes, within 500 feet of a curve, hill crest, or other obstruction to view, the warning device in that direction shall be so placed as to afford 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.

(4) Whenever any vehicle of a type referred to in this section is disabled, or stopped for more than 10 minutes, upon any roadway of a divided highway during the time lighted lamps are required, the appropriate warning devices prescribed in subsections (2) and (5) shall 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.

(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 is disabled, or stopped for more than 10 minutes, at any time and place mentioned in subsection (2), subsection (3), or subsection (4), the driver of such vehicle shall immediately display red electric lanterns or portable red emergency reflectors in the same number and manner specified therein. 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) The warning devices described in subsections (2)-(5) need not be displayed where there is sufficient light to reveal persons and vehicles within a distance of 1,000 feet.

(7) Whenever any vehicle described in this section is disabled, or stopped for more than 10 minutes, upon a roadway outside an urban district or upon the roadway of a divided highway at any time when lighted lamps are not required by s. 316.217, the driver of the vehicle shall display two red flags or two red portable emergency reflectors as follows: (a) If traffic on the roadway moves in two directions, one flag or reflector shall be placed approximately 100 feet to the rear and one flag or reflector approximately 100 feet in advance of the vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by such vehicle. (b) Upon a one-way roadway, one flag or reflector shall be placed approximately 100 feet, and one flag or reflector approximately 200 feet, to the rear of the vehicle in the center of the lane occupied by such vehicle.

(8) When any vehicle described in this section is stopped entirely off the roadway and on an adjacent shoulder at any time and place hereinbefore mentioned, the warning devices shall be placed, as nearly as practicable, on the shoulder near the edge of the roadway.

(9) 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 this chapter applicable thereto.

(10) A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a nonmoving violation as provided in chapter 318.

History: s. 1, ch. 71-135; s. 1, ch. 76-31; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-49; s. 214, ch. 99-248.