Lighting a Road Flare – It is Important to Avoid Accidents?

A road flare is something that you’ve probably seen used before and you probably do not think anything of them when you do see them – except for that there was an accident or something happened down that way. You might even have road flares in your trunk with the rest of your emergency items. However, how often or have you ever even lit a road flare or needed to? Hopefully a lot of people will never have to light them since it can mean something bad has happened but if it comes down to it and you think you should – it is best to know what to expect when it comes to lighting them and making sure that they work. It is like changing your own flat tire – practice is always good to ensure that you know what you’re doing.

Lighting Your Flare

  • Make sure to know where to place the flare before you decide to light it. Always check for leaking gas from any of the vehicles that were involved with the accident. You do not want to light a flare if there is gasoline. You should light them and place them on empty roads without vegetation or near anything that can catch fire. You should also ensure that they are at least 100 paces behind or in front of the accident.
  • The cap at the end of the flare is what has the striking surface, you are going to want to remove the cap from the end of the flare so you can use this surface to light the flare on.
  • The cap can also be used to sit the flare up when it is on the road so it does not roll away with the wind and catch things on fire. You will want to make sure that your cap has this feature before you decide to light it.
  • Make sure to strike the end of the flare with the striking surface on the cap away from your face and body and other people. Stand in a way that blocks the wind and have your hand on the middle of the flare and not the end that is going to be lit.
  • Make sure to replace the cap on the section that is not lit and then place it on the ground where you felt that it was necessary to have it.

Before you decide to leave the site, you need to make sure that you extinguish the flare. This is a big thing since you do not want to leave a fire hazard behind. A lot of times a police officer will put up flares for an accident, but if you have one and there has been an accident – it is always a good thing to warn oncoming traffic of the accident and to have them slow down and pay attention.