Vehicle breakdowns can be disruptive and dangerous. With road traffic accidents accounting for 13% of all deaths in the UK – 60% of which occur on country roads – and with the much-debated “smart” motorways tragically taking 38 lives in five years, pulling to the left and staying visible when your car goes kaput is essential. 

The general advice from roadside recovery services has always been to put your vehicle’s hazard lights on, get out of the car and sit tight a safe distance from the roadside until help arrives – always staying well behind the barrier, if there is one. Doing such a thing on a busy, well-lit motorway is daunting enough. Doing so in cold and wet weather, and perhaps with children and pets in tow, makes the whole stressful situation even more fraught. 

Fortunately, there are new products on the market to make you and your broken down car more visible to other drivers, and could make you feel a bit safer too. 

BriteAngle’s LED Emergency Warning Triangle (£59.95) takes a well-known and highly recognised warning symbol and uses technology to add lights, enabling it to be seen up to 300 metres (almost 1,000 feet) away. A built-in stand props it up and there’s a flashing mode, aiming to capture other drivers’ attention – and, with any luck, initiate a slowdown. 

Red triangles, mandated in some countries on the continent, have faced some criticism though. They’re usually placed some way from the car – roughly 45 metres. Roadside recovery firms, like The AA advise against using them, since venturing into oncoming traffic, or on a dark isolated road, could put a motorist or occupant at risk. Spain actually moved away from using the red triangle early this year, introducing the legally mandated amber beacon in January 2021.