AUTONEWS

New technology makes today's emergency triangle obsolete

Known as Help Flash, this indicator uses a system with LED lights to draw the attention of other motorists that there is something parked on the track or very close to it. In fact, it performs a function similar to that of the known emergency triangle, which all drivers are required to use in Portugal (as well as the reflective vest), which is obviously more visible at night.
The advantages of the Flash Help exceed visibility in bad conditions, whether they are affected by the night, but also in heavy rain or fog, and the gains are not so evident when the sun is out or the vehicle (and the corresponding triangle) are in a well-lit area. The advantages also include the possibility of saving it in the glove compartment, rather than in a bottom of the luggage compartment, which makes it easier and, above all, faster to be activated and used.
For the Spanish authorities, the Directorate General for Traffic, Help Flash seems to be the "last potato in the package", capable of solving all the problems of insecurity caused whenever a vehicle is forced to stop in the taxiway, or on the road , but very close to the road. Only the publication of a Royal Decree is expected so that the use of the indicator light not only passes the obligatory, but also replaces the obligatory triangle.
The Spaniards say that 70% of deadly car wrecks involving cars on the curb occur under conditions of insufficient visibility. But even at night, if the driver does not notice a parked vehicle with the four blinkers on, it will not be with this new strobe light that the run over will disappear. Experts say that motorists see the lights announcing a vehicle in a dangerous situation, what they can not see is the triangle (only visible by day, or when you are too close), let alone the driver, for example, busy changing a tire .
As soon as the decree is published, the triangle and Help Flash become both legal and capable of being used, and then, in January 2024, light is the only type of telltale that can be used by drivers from the neighboring country.
We hope that in Portugal, and in the rest of Europe, it is adopted the obligation to use a triangle with Help Flash, so that drivers can enjoy the best of both worlds.