What is the purpose of fusees, flares

Newbie with a Chrysler has a general car question. I hope you can help.

What is the purpose of fusees, flares?

I know that they are there to warn traffic of a car stuck in the road or near the road, but how much good can they do if they burn for only

15 minutes. Most people, when they break down, are there for more than an hour. A box of fusees contains maybe 3 15-minute ones. Are people supposed to carry several boxes and to keep lighting them every 14 minutes?

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Directions are given as if you know nothing. There's a big range here but I don't know who knows what.

Reply to
meirman
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That's 2 1/2 times longer than you'll remain stuck on a Houston freeway

Reply to
Cartlon Shew

Why don't you explain WHY?

Houston can go rot in hell- if I have a flat tire there's no WAY I should be forced to pay a towing fee instead of being allowed to change it in the breakdown lane, and I'll be the one holding the tire-iron when the tow truck tries to hook on.

Houston's new "law" (in quotes, because that sucker's gonna get overturned the first time its challenged!) is a clear example of the influence of the towing companies at City Hall.

As if I needed ANOTHER reason to despise Houston.... its sinking almost as NY, Chicago, and LA on my list of hives to avoid.

Reply to
Steve

They will tow your car????In Nashville there are TDOT trucks with air,gas,water,they help you get your vehicle back on the road and not charge you(I think you may have to pay for gas)but thats southern hospitality for ya!

Reply to
TNKEV

Yep, unconditional towing for ANY stopping on the freeway, be it out of gas or a flat tire. The goal is to have a towtruck on your bumper within

5 minutes or something insane like that- allegedly to "prevent traffic congestion." There's already been a death related to this stupid law- a guy ran out of gas and crossed the freeway to get a can of gas. He apparently saw the towtruck hitching on, and was killed trying to run back across traffic to get to his car. Anyone from Houston please correct me if I've got it wrong.

We have TxDOT "freeway rescue" trucks with air, jumper cables, etc. here too, even though Austin is in some ways one of the most car-hating cities around (most of the politicians here try to cater to the enviro-nuts by making it painful to drive or park, so that everyone will "choose to" ride bikes and busses).

Reply to
Steve

You got it wrong - the law is stupid, but that guy that got killed was a victim of Darwin

bullshit - it's very easy to drive around Austin - parking can be a bit tough downtown, but that's not the enviro-nuts fault.

Reply to
Cartlon Shew

True- saving your car from the towtruck isn't worth risking life and limb and he was stupid to do so. But had the admittedly stupid law not been there, the guy might be alive.

Bull on your bull. Austin is NOWHERE NEAR big enough to warrant

45-minute commutes and sub-10 MPH crawls on the major arterials during "rush 3-hours" (morning and evening), if the highways weren't 20-odd years behind the demand. It consistently ranks as having the worst traffic congestion OF CITIES ITS SIZE. Over the past 30 years (I've lived here for 40) there has been constant and unrelenting pressure against building roads in the misguided belief that "if you don't build it, they won't come." But, as any sane person knew already, the presence or absence of highways never affects population growth at all. Do I want it to grow? Heck no, but I'm a realist and don't see any point in cutting off my nose to spite my face.
Reply to
Steve

Back in the 70's, I moonlighted at a service station in the little town the Navy base I was stationed at was located in in Florida. Florida had a law on the books that said that whenever there was an accident, the first tow truck on the scene got the towing job. I'll never forget that day there was an accident right in front of the service station. A town cop arrived on the scene and stoppped with lights flashing, and before he could get out of the car, a tow truck comes flying down the road through the intersection, and with rear wheels locked up, runs smack dab into the rear of the police car, giving the cop whip lash.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

There ya' go - you just proved how easy it is to drive in Austin. Rush "hour" is only 3 hours long.

blah, blah, blah - visit Dullass sometime

and yet, they keep building

Reply to
Cartlon Shew

Raleigh, NC is having a different towing "problem". Politicians are yelling about predatory towing. People go to an event in downtown Raleigh at night when the private lots are vacant. There are signs all over saying towing enforced 24 hours, but instead of paying for parking in a public lot like I do they park in the empty private lot and are pissed when their cars are gone after the show. Hey, I have a solution.... instead of bitching to the politicians.... don't park on someone else's private property especially if the sign says you'll be towed if you do.

Reply to
Art

They do this in Dallas too, but the wrecker drivers took down all the no parking signs.

Reply to
Cartlon Shew

Not the point at all. The point is that other towns the size of Austin don't have half the traffic problems.

I Dallas is 5 times as big. Its a completely different situation.

EXACTLY.

Reply to
Steve

If enforcing no-parking was REALLY that important to the property owners, they could just put gates on their parking lots. Sounds like they've found an easy cash cow, to me. Wouldn't it be far better PR to open their parking lots, even if they hired someone to collect a buck a space (or 3 bucks a space, or whatever)?

Reply to
Steve

Same here in Virginia. Change your tire, supply gas, air, water, etc all at no charge. Keeps the motorists safe and the tow sharks at bay!

Reply to
PC Medic

Or a victim of the fear of having his only vehicle which he used for getting to/from work towed, knowing he would not be able to afford the tow/impound fee. Shame that all the rich bastards think everyone has pockets lined with cash like the politicians that pass these laws.

Reply to
PC Medic

Ah come on Steve. Do you have a fence and gates around your complete property? 'cause from what you're saying, if you don't, I should feel free to come onto it and use it for my own purposes any time I want.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Plus he was dumb enough to run out of gas in the first place.

Reply to
Bill 2

No, you probably know I'm a huge property-rights advocate. But REALISTICALLY, parking lots that sit unused at downtown businesses on weekends are sorta expected to be open for use, even if there's an attendant taking payment for the property owner. To just haul off cars and make a profit on the towing is a pretty low trick, and bad PR for the property owners on top of that.

Reply to
Steve

I went to a concert in Atlanta,paid $25 for parking and after the show found out the tow company had covered the parking lot hours,free parking till

11:00 pm when the strip club opens,needless to say our car was gone and cost $100.00 to get it out of the tow in lot.nice scam $125.00 per vehicle and there were 60 cars towed,the scene at the tow in lot was not pretty.
Reply to
TNKEV

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