While immersed in the weekly Lidl shopping jamboree on Friday after work I got a call from mate saying his car had stopped, the RAC would be an hour, would I tow him home? I dumped the shopping at home grabbed the Hilka towing bar and whirly beacon and drove the 6 miles to where his 180K mile petrol Passat had shed its drive belt. As the belt drives the water pump on his car, there was no possibility of it being driven. We hooked up the towing eyes with the towing bar, I stuck the amber beacon on the roof and then had a short discussion about hazard lights.
Mate said he should put hazards on to show he was being towed. I said if he had hazards on, only a few gifted motorists would be able to determine which way we were going at the upcoming roundabout and various turnings we would be making on the way home. I added that I thought hazards on a moving vehicle were a no-no on this B road journey. I later found the reference in Rule 96 in my paper copy of the HC saying something similar but I can't find anything in the online HC that helps. In the end I had to come over all bossy and we did it my way. We didn't have an "On Tow" notice. I thought we should have but the chances of it being seen in the murky evening were but slim.
So, hazards or not when being towed ?
PS It was my first use of the metal bar purchased years ago when I bought my son an Ebay Citroen AX to go to college in. I didn't want my then-nearly-new C8 to be rear-ended with an inexperienced towee's banger on the end of a rope. The tow went well from my point of view but mate wanted me to go slower as he could only see my boot and had no power steering, making following me round left-hand bends "terrifying" as he put it. I thought that his steering would be easier if I kept the outfit rolling a bit.
|
Going back a few years now but my kerbside cowboy mate and i used to tow a lot, sturdy rope strap or chain though, none of this poncy solid bar stuff....wouldn't have minded one though..;)
We worked best if i towed, i dispensed with indicators and we put an ON TOW piece of card on the back car if we had one.
Then window down and hand signals all the way from me, if the towed vehicle had power my mate would use indicators if not copy my hand signals, didn't use hazards as we didn't hold any traffic up.
I used the standard slowing down signal to signal when i wanted him to brake and increased the intensity if i was going to brake too...in practice i seldom had to brake as he was the perfect towee and the rope would be taut at all times, then gave a follow me signal for him to release or lessen the braking.
There might have been some eye opening speeds attained during those days..;)
Once broke down in a 3 tons tare ford A series truck in the 70's, a workmate towed me some 150 miles back to Herts behind a rope behind a 3 litre Granada estate, ground covered quicker than under the trucks own power.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sun 22 Jan 12 at 13:21
|
|
See rule 116 in the Highway Code. tinyurl.com/2a7c9t
|
|
That's the fella. Thank you.
|
Towing - hazards on or not ? - -
