When someone suffers an accident or a breakdown on the road and gets out of the car to get to safety or to call the assistance services, it is often forgotten that they become a pedestrian. The detail is not minor because, as the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) collects in its publications, the pedestrian is the most vulnerable user of the road.
The DGT statistical yearbook shows that in 2022, 1,145 people died in traffic accidents. Of the total number of fatalities, 126 were run over, which represents 11% of the total, and 16 of them had just gotten out of their vehicle after suffering a breakdown or accident. A situation that involves a serious risk, especially on highways and highways where the speed of the vehicles that circulate on them is usually high.
For this reason, the General Director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, has issued a message to drivers advising them not to get out of the vehicle after suffering an incident on the road. “We are concerned about the problem of being run over on the roads, especially on high-speed ones. The DGT's message is don't get off, ”he said in statements collected by Europa Press after referring to the fatal accident on Monday on the A2 highway when a driver got out of the car and was run over to death.
Navarro recalled that the V16 emergency lights to signal a breakdown or an accident on the road are an alternative to the traditional triangles "to avoid getting out of the car on a road with high traffic and high speed". "It's very dangerous," added the director of the DGT at the welcome ceremony for the 2023 Used Vehicle Show, at the Ifema Fairgrounds, in Madrid.
Navarro already expressed himself in similar terms last April when he said that the DGT is studying, "for motorways and dual carriageways, to see how legally we can make the triangle no longer mandatory". Instead, the general director of Traffic considers that the most appropriate option is to leave the vehicle through the passenger seat and call the emergency services for help, thus avoiding walking on the shoulder.
From July 1, 2021, the replacement of the triangles by the V16 emergency light is allowed. Both systems to signal the stop of a vehicle on the road are currently valid, but as of January 1, 2026 the triangles will disappear and only the light beacon can be used, which must be connected to the DGT 3.0 platform.
Until then, the DGT allows the use of the V16 signal even if it does not offer connectivity to any geolocation platform. Therefore, users who use a signal that is not connected must replace it with another that does have the technology before January 1, 2026. These signals must offer a minimum connectivity time of 12 years, according to current regulations.
One of the advantages that the V16 emergency light offers over the warning triangles is the fact that it can be placed with a simple gesture, sticking your hand out of the window, to place it on the roof in a matter of seconds. In this way, we avoid possible accidents by not having to leave the car and we can remain protected inside it waiting for the arrival of assistance.
The light beacon allows the vehicle to be signaled at a greater distance in situations of low light, especially at night, and can be seen at 360º. This characteristic means that the rest of the users detect it with more time and space than the triangles to prevent possible risks.
