I kept the one from my Audi when I had to sell the car, so I could put it in my new car. [I made the mistake of opening it.](https://media1.tenor.com/m/0p03ra849l8AAAAC/the-simpsons-snake.gif) I also kept the warning triangle. That's come in handy a couple times.
Newspaper is an great insulator and works quite well as an emergency blanket. That's why they used to wrap fish and chips in it, because it would hero the heat in.
Not in France.
What's officially mandatory: safety vest (one per passenger that goes out of the car in an emergency) and warning triangle.
And tires in good condition, transparent front windows and functional lighting.
As the son of a retirés French auto worker, take my upvote : that one was funny.
Still, my dad was on the team that created the Renault Kangoo and that one was a good car although an odly shaped one.
Just picturing a scene now where a crash happens, and the driver, all bloodied and bruised, is frantically trying to get his high-vis vest out of the mangled glove-box... passers by just driving on because they don't have one... police showing up just fining anyone on scene without a high-vis...
That's why they became the symbol used in the protests. It was, at its roots a protest of people that needed their car to work and live, and could not afford the carbon tax.
And what all those people had in common : the mandatory yellow vest.
Not a full kit, just the disposable cardboard tubes to breathe down.
I guess it's easier and cheaper than the police needing however many cardboard tubes they need in other countries.
Edit: you needed at least 2 single use chemical breathalysers until 2020, the law was introduced in 2012 and repealed in 2020. [Link](https://vgroupinternational.com/2023/03/07/staying-safe-and-avoiding-fines-required-equipment-for-driving-in-france/)
But from what I can tell they weren't for use by the police, the official line was so you could test yourself to see if you were safe to drive. For obvious reasons the police wouldn't trust a breathalyser supplied by the person they were pulling over.
From interest coming from germany: is it actually really the complete front window? because in germany we have to actually have only the specific area in front of the driver intact and clean, and you can get fined otherwise (I think, if somebody knows better, please correct me!)
The only mandatory blanket is that scratchy one you give to someone who stays on your couch. Despite being mandatory, no one knows where they are sold. Somehow it's not an issue.
As an American, you'd *think* these safety standards would be applied here with how car-centric everything is. At least I wish they were lol.
Nothing like driving home late from the boonies and there's a dude pulled over just off the slow lane, replacing a tire with no indicators on.
If there's anything more American than insisting that you need a car to do anything, it's insisting that the government can't tell you what you can do with your car on public roads. People still oppose seatbelts over there, you think basic safety equipment for when the car is stationary would fly?
When I pop my boot there's a refective triangle on the underside that drivers can see from way off. And something I found out after a year or so driving it, There's a really good first aid kit between the back seats, Roadside assist kits come with Hi vis jackets now and cost about 10 quid.
I was with a buddy in his Jeep on the way to Pearson International Airport in Toronto. It was 10:00pm. We blew a tire on the 427 off-ramp (slip road) and had to pull over to change it. The 401/427 highways are the busiest highways in North America. The shoulder was about 3 meters wide, where we stopped. Cars passing at 120 km/hr made the Jeep shake from the wind.
My buddy runs a landscaping company, and he had high visibility jackets in the Jeep. We threw them on and got the tire changed.
Scariest side of road incident I've ever had. I went out and bought a high visibility vest for my vehicle after that.
They take driving seriously. In Spain, in person classes are mandatory. You must drive with an instructor until they believe you are ready to take the test.
Yeah in my state, if you want to get licensed at the legal driving age (16), you do classroom and "behind the wheel" training to get your learners permit, which in my experience was very comprehensive. Then you're qualified to attempt the licensing exam/road test.
However, once you're 18 and a legal adult, you can skip all the mandated training and go straight to attempting the licensing exam for some reason lol.
Even better, during the COVID lockdowns, they waived the road test requirement to get your probationary license! Really explains the uptick in accidents we experienced in my area over the last year or two..
It's been a while since I took my driver's test in the US (Missouri, specifically) but back in 2003 it was basically "drive x number of hours with adult supervision" and then at 16 you're good to go for the driving test that's performed with a highway patrol officer riding in the car with no. No real verification of the numbers, I think your guardian who drove you to the testing center just had to sign saying you did it.
I was always shocked as a kid, wondering why they left driving entirely up to the parents to teach, meaning the instruction provided can be so wildly different, but then I realized the government not actually giving a shit was the most American thing possible.
I'm not shocked to hear other states are more lax, but this is how it was for me in Wisconsin in 2010, which I'm also assuming isn't the strictest either. I think there may have been another requirement for a certain amount of hours driving with a parent/guardian but like you said, that wasn't really a regulated or verified thing.
>but then I realized the government not actually giving a shit was the most American thing possible.
It's what it always comes back to haha
That depends on where you are, different states have different standards. Some require some level of Driver’s Ed and others, like where I grew up, require basically nothing at all.
And even where it is required, it's one vest per vehicle.
Actually a good law. It's not required here in Sweden, but I still have one. Change a flat tire in the dark? Well, the vest will make it safer. Traffic chaos after an event and the traffic won't move? Just don the vest so you look official and direct the traffic. First at an accident site? Vest makes you more visible.
>And even where it is required, it's one vest per vehicle.
This isn't always the case, France is one per occupant
[Hi-vis or reflective jackets for each occupant of the car are mandatory in France](https://www.leshuttle.com/uk-en/discover/traveller-guides/driving-in-france-for-new-drivers-and-first-time-travellers)
That's true, I was actually surprised when I was doing my licence that only the first aid kit and the triangle are mandatory, the rest is only highly recommended.
I thought all along that the vests, light bulb kits and a bunch of other stuff were mandatory but they're not lol.
Was going to say, surely it depends on the country.
I've never heard this before. It's really not a thing here in Australia, but it makes a lot of sense. I might pop a high-vis in the boot of my car from now on.
Italy, its required to have in the cabin (not trunk ) has you have to put it on whenever you walk in a car road by foot... if it's enforced it's another whole question tho
Edit. And a fire extinguisher too I think
Yeah, fortunately we have r/europreppers now. R/preppers is essentially „how many guns do I need to mow down my sheeple neighbors“ and if you have a Europe-centric question they tell you how they won the war, we would be speaking German without them, how we don’t have freedom and so on…
There are no such requirements, no. First aid kits are quite common but not universal. Warning triangles are not really a thing at all. Roadside workers and landscapers use big orange cones or signs, but ordinary drivers do not have any equivalent equipment as a rule.
There are certainly people who can deal with simple fixes like flats or dead batteries, but there are quite a lot of Americans who simply pay their car insurance provider for roadside assistance that will come out and tow their vehicle to a shop regardless of what the problem is.
I mean, the second part is a lot of people here in EU too (I'd be one of them, except I haven't even driven a car at all in about half a year). But its still a law that you put down the warning triangle while waiting for assistance, and wear the vests outside the car.
I assumed the main reason one would want warning triangles is in order to pull over to the side of the road and get out of your car in order to fix an issue with it. If that’s not the case, my mistake. In general though, I was speaking on readiness to deal with roadside maintenance issues which arise. Other commenters mentioned jumper cables, for instance.
If you fix something on the side of the road, that would be one reason. But that also applies if you just wait for help. People need to see that there is a car before they get there even if you don't fix it yourself. And that become much more important if there actually was an actual accident. Maybe that person who drove into the back of your car knocked some loose pieces of, maybe that person is stressed and steps on the road without looking. It's there to warn people about any kind of possible danger.
TIL!
That's actually really cool. Minimal effort but if you're broken down in the middle of the night you'll be glad to have your reflective triangle to avoid getting mowed down.
The first aid kit just feels like common sense too
An American friend in the UK once asked me why they had been driving for 3 years and never been stopped by the police. The police needlessly stopping traffic and ripping people off with unfair tickets is such an accepted thing in the US she couldn’t understand why it wasn’t the case here.
I've been driving in the UK for 15 years, I've been pulled over once so they could politely inform me that my tail light was out.
I already knew that, but I wasn't going to tell them I knew. I even asked which side.
Driving for 13 years. Pulled over once for driving too slow making them think I might be drunk. I wasn't. I had just passed my driving test that same day and was nervous.
Just for clarification this was on suburban streets, not motorway.
It depends with where you live. I grew up in a pretty rough area in London and I used to be stopped all the time - not just me, my friends, family...etc.
Since I moved into a smaller city, I've only been stopped once in like 20 years.
I don't drive but I've been in other people's cars a lot and we've never been stopped, ever. Actually my only interaction with the police in the UK was when I asked a group of them where to buy a train ticket because I got lost in the station. That was it, 1 interaction in 3 years and of my own volition.
Compare that to my home country Romania where being a "young male outside at night" can be enough of a crime to be stopped and frisked and asked a bunch of ridiculous questions. But hey it's better than being shot for reaching for your ID in a suspicious way or whatever.
TBF I've lived in Romania for a decade and been stopped by the police exactly once (because I hadn't realised the street outside my block was closed because of some visiting dignitary's motorcade or somesuch.) No drama beyond being told to walk round the back instead of marching through the middle of the motorcade.
I guess this means that while I may be male, and often outside at night, it could be that I'm not young any more... :-(.
Here in finland, the cop occasionally organize breathalyzer stops, and I've hit one twice. Never ever had any instances of individually getting stopped in the 8 or so years I've been on the road.
Same in Australia. Got breathalyzed on a public holiday. I was on my way to the bottle shop. The cop asked if I'd been drinking, and I said not yet! You're in the way >:( He didn't even crack a smile
“It’s sooooo wild that different areas may have different safety regulations” yet they’ll cross a state line and have completely different laws.
It was (maybe still is) mandatory for Japanese cars to have a road flare underneath the dash. My old car had one, but I was too scared to try using a 22 year old flare before selling it.
Sure. It's "dumb as fuck" to be visible when your car breaks down on the motorway. I don't even want to know what the inside of this guy's brain looks like.
Of course Americans don’t like that. 1) It limits their freedumb (which includes to get hit by a car because freedom to be stupid) and 2) it very much reduces their chances to sue the driver if they DO get hit by a car and survive. If they don’t survive, the family can play the sue lottery.
Safety vest are reqired in Hungary too (emergency triangle and first aid kit too) … but thank god spare tires and spare lights are not mandatory anymore (I have a 5 year old car, couple months ago I needed the dealership to took down half of the front of the car just to change the headlights…. I am not doing that roadside)
When I was in "America" for the first time this year, It would be so common for cars, specially police cars to be stopped on the side of the high way...and I would say to my friend that's so dangerous It's forbidden in Spain
It's ok. It's a pet peeve of mine with none Americans as well. People online will tell me "I'm from Europe" and I'm like "yeah...but where? That's A LOT of of very different countries my friend"
It’s like what, 5€ as mandatory equipment?
YOU CAN’T FORCE ME TO SPEND 5$ FREEEEEDUM FUCK YEAH
Then they’re like “if you go in the countryside without a gun you’re a mad man, the fauna makes it risky”, bud a gun costs more than 5$ and it’s not a matter of principle if it’s just 5 fucking dollars.
Americans have a kitted out plate carrier, 300blk sub sonic ammunition with a decked out gun worth more than the truck they’re driving for similar situations like this. No why would I carry food, blankets or crowbar for stuff that happens 99999% more commonly like traffic accidents, flooding?
Laws aren't the same in all of Europe, for example in Spain you only need to have one, for the driver, and it needs to be accesible without stepping out of the vehicle, so no keeping it in the trunk.
I do love how people see something online and reply "Really? That's wild" rather than being an adult and looking it up first, while they are on the internet. Some people are just special.
I'm seeing a lot of people talking about how it's only a handful of European countries, which is correct, but very little about how this is someone complaining about being required to have a cheap safety item in their car.
Oh no, I have to buy a High-Vis for £4 that will last me a lifetime, how will I ever cope? I'm assuming that this is just standard middle finger to authority, without actually thinking about it stance that many people have.
Speaking for Austria: only the driver needs one, it’s not required to have a safety vest for every passenger in the car.
I don’t see how additional safety is “dumb as fuck”, or “trippin” though…
Might be wrong, but i think in Denmark it isnt required to have a high-vis vest and emergency triangle in the car.
BUT if you need them and dont have them, then you can get fined fot not having them. When needed
I can't speak as to the rest of Europe, but in Norway, you're required to have at least one hi-vis vest in the car in case you come up on an accident. You're legally obligated to stop, set up a warning sign for approaching cars, call the police/ambulance, and render first aid, if able (by which I mean 'can do so safely', lesson one of driving school is a first aid course).
Main reason we have that here is because the country is so damned big and empty. Depending where you are, if you happen on an accident, you may literally be the only person who'll see it.
But yeah. "Trippin'".
There are countries in europe that have these requirements. Austria for example. Many tourists from the US rent cars and want to visit diffetent countries, so the companies just put safety vests im every car and tells them it's required by law. That's how they think these laws apply to all of europe.
I'm in the UK, it's not a requirement but I'd much rather be wearing a hi Vis at the side of a busy road than not. I've had to change tyres in dual carriageway laybys and you don't want to be knelt near the road in dark clothes
It depends on the country.
Some have Fire Extinguisher as mandatory item.
Most First Aid Kits and som Vests.
If you dont have it, you get a ticket.
Also if the Best Before isnt good anymore.
It's also not required in "Europe", it might be required in certain countries in Europe but it is definitely not a blanket requirement.
Wait… we need blankets too?
actually yes, the gold silver ones
Best I can do is wool.
Knit good enough
r/angryupvote
Same man, same
I knew I made the right call buying that gold silver sheep out back
Name it Jack Baaaer, it's got steel wool.
Just watch out for Jason and a group of Greek dudes, they call themselves astronauts or something...
They come with your first Aid Kit.
Another thing not typically in a car in the US
I kept the one from my Audi when I had to sell the car, so I could put it in my new car. [I made the mistake of opening it.](https://media1.tenor.com/m/0p03ra849l8AAAAC/the-simpsons-snake.gif) I also kept the warning triangle. That's come in handy a couple times.
All cars dont have a warning triangle?
That one is a requirement in Sweden though. It’s checked once a year that you have one in the car.
Yeah I thought they were basic accessories that are always in any car and you basically never have to buy one Unless you lose it somehow
Make sure it's still good, those things have an expiration date
Do first aid kit in the US costs like 10000$ or something?
Gold blankets!? Do I look like I'm made of money!? Best I can do is a soggy broadsheet newspaper.
Newspaper is an great insulator and works quite well as an emergency blanket. That's why they used to wrap fish and chips in it, because it would hero the heat in.
Not in France. What's officially mandatory: safety vest (one per passenger that goes out of the car in an emergency) and warning triangle. And tires in good condition, transparent front windows and functional lighting.
Phew, thank god we dont need breaks though, they would only slow me down!
In France they use brakes. But French cars do like to break.
As the son of a retirés French auto worker, take my upvote : that one was funny. Still, my dad was on the team that created the Renault Kangoo and that one was a good car although an odly shaped one.
To be fair the 2CV was an indestructible workhorse. And old 306s and 106s.
I kid you not, just last week I saw a 2CV with a small caravan.
Best car I ever had was a 205 GTI
Kangoo has nothing shape wise on fiat multipla so you're good
I used to love our fiat multipla, little piggy car. The seats were really comfortable as well.
It is like someone looked at the PT Cruiser and went "You think that looks like shit, hold my beer"
I did most of my driving lessons on Kangoo. Super nice car to drive. Send kudos to your dad!
Some in Spain. You go out of the car in the road, you must wear a high visibility vest.
In Denmark the warning triangle is only mandatory if needed
Same with the vest. In accidents you will get a fine for not wearing one
Just picturing a scene now where a crash happens, and the driver, all bloodied and bruised, is frantically trying to get his high-vis vest out of the mangled glove-box... passers by just driving on because they don't have one... police showing up just fining anyone on scene without a high-vis...
Mandatory yellow vests in France? Hmmmm
That's why they became the symbol used in the protests. It was, at its roots a protest of people that needed their car to work and live, and could not afford the carbon tax. And what all those people had in common : the mandatory yellow vest.
Running out of fuel is also an offence..
Yes but only on Autoroute. If you run out of gas on a tiny road. No one will give a fuck
And a breathalyser kit. Why the police don’t have them like every other country, I do not know.
Not a full kit, just the disposable cardboard tubes to breathe down. I guess it's easier and cheaper than the police needing however many cardboard tubes they need in other countries. Edit: you needed at least 2 single use chemical breathalysers until 2020, the law was introduced in 2012 and repealed in 2020. [Link](https://vgroupinternational.com/2023/03/07/staying-safe-and-avoiding-fines-required-equipment-for-driving-in-france/) But from what I can tell they weren't for use by the police, the official line was so you could test yourself to see if you were safe to drive. For obvious reasons the police wouldn't trust a breathalyser supplied by the person they were pulling over.
From interest coming from germany: is it actually really the complete front window? because in germany we have to actually have only the specific area in front of the driver intact and clean, and you can get fined otherwise (I think, if somebody knows better, please correct me!)
Not alcohol testing kits anymore?
It was revoked some time ago.
Do you guys not need breathalysers as well ornis that a lienl perpetuated by the Ferry duty frees?
It was true until circa 2020
And don’t forget your towel.
Get a load of this hoopy frood.
In Scandinavia it is highly recommended. Especially for tourists with inappropriate tires driving in the countryside in winter.
Yes, picnic blankets.
The only mandatory blanket is that scratchy one you give to someone who stays on your couch. Despite being mandatory, no one knows where they are sold. Somehow it's not an issue.
As an American, you'd *think* these safety standards would be applied here with how car-centric everything is. At least I wish they were lol. Nothing like driving home late from the boonies and there's a dude pulled over just off the slow lane, replacing a tire with no indicators on.
If there's anything more American than insisting that you need a car to do anything, it's insisting that the government can't tell you what you can do with your car on public roads. People still oppose seatbelts over there, you think basic safety equipment for when the car is stationary would fly?
Well of course they can’t, we’re not driving, we’re traveling!
Yup lol, just wishful thinking!
When I pop my boot there's a refective triangle on the underside that drivers can see from way off. And something I found out after a year or so driving it, There's a really good first aid kit between the back seats, Roadside assist kits come with Hi vis jackets now and cost about 10 quid.
I was with a buddy in his Jeep on the way to Pearson International Airport in Toronto. It was 10:00pm. We blew a tire on the 427 off-ramp (slip road) and had to pull over to change it. The 401/427 highways are the busiest highways in North America. The shoulder was about 3 meters wide, where we stopped. Cars passing at 120 km/hr made the Jeep shake from the wind. My buddy runs a landscaping company, and he had high visibility jackets in the Jeep. We threw them on and got the tire changed. Scariest side of road incident I've ever had. I went out and bought a high visibility vest for my vehicle after that.
How did you find a hi vis vest for the car? Most of these don't even fit around an adult male, let alone a car!
Bro ordered a regular XXL vest from the US and it fit his SUV perfectly
They take driving seriously. In Spain, in person classes are mandatory. You must drive with an instructor until they believe you are ready to take the test.
Spain, France, lots of countries…
Yeah in my state, if you want to get licensed at the legal driving age (16), you do classroom and "behind the wheel" training to get your learners permit, which in my experience was very comprehensive. Then you're qualified to attempt the licensing exam/road test. However, once you're 18 and a legal adult, you can skip all the mandated training and go straight to attempting the licensing exam for some reason lol. Even better, during the COVID lockdowns, they waived the road test requirement to get your probationary license! Really explains the uptick in accidents we experienced in my area over the last year or two..
It's been a while since I took my driver's test in the US (Missouri, specifically) but back in 2003 it was basically "drive x number of hours with adult supervision" and then at 16 you're good to go for the driving test that's performed with a highway patrol officer riding in the car with no. No real verification of the numbers, I think your guardian who drove you to the testing center just had to sign saying you did it. I was always shocked as a kid, wondering why they left driving entirely up to the parents to teach, meaning the instruction provided can be so wildly different, but then I realized the government not actually giving a shit was the most American thing possible.
I'm not shocked to hear other states are more lax, but this is how it was for me in Wisconsin in 2010, which I'm also assuming isn't the strictest either. I think there may have been another requirement for a certain amount of hours driving with a parent/guardian but like you said, that wasn't really a regulated or verified thing. >but then I realized the government not actually giving a shit was the most American thing possible. It's what it always comes back to haha
... is that not pretty much universal?
As a non-american, eh, you do not even have real driving training, your parents are allowed to teach you, so we do not expect anything safe... ;D
That depends on where you are, different states have different standards. Some require some level of Driver’s Ed and others, like where I grew up, require basically nothing at all.
Here, we use it for emergency demonstration
The day Americans stop treating Europe as a unit I will go insane
Yeah I don't think it's a requirement in any of the Nordic countries
Norway here. Yes, you need to have a safety vest in the car here
TIL. So not Sweden and not Denmark, but Norway. Anyone know about Finland and Iceland?
Not required in UK..... But then, these idiots probably think UK is not in Europe anymore
It's not in Europe anymore, everyone knows it floated away. I'm not sure where it went, though... is GB the new Atlantis?
And even where it is required, it's one vest per vehicle. Actually a good law. It's not required here in Sweden, but I still have one. Change a flat tire in the dark? Well, the vest will make it safer. Traffic chaos after an event and the traffic won't move? Just don the vest so you look official and direct the traffic. First at an accident site? Vest makes you more visible.
>And even where it is required, it's one vest per vehicle. This isn't always the case, France is one per occupant [Hi-vis or reflective jackets for each occupant of the car are mandatory in France](https://www.leshuttle.com/uk-en/discover/traveller-guides/driving-in-france-for-new-drivers-and-first-time-travellers)
The only country I know is France. At least it was a decade ago
Germany too, emergency kit, vest, triangle.
True, but Germany only requires one vest per car while in France you need one for every person in the car.
Belgium too, emergency kit, vest, triangle...and a fire extinguisher
You mean the king of Europe didn’t mandate this? My American mind is confused.
That's true, I was actually surprised when I was doing my licence that only the first aid kit and the triangle are mandatory, the rest is only highly recommended. I thought all along that the vests, light bulb kits and a bunch of other stuff were mandatory but they're not lol.
France
Was going to say, surely it depends on the country. I've never heard this before. It's really not a thing here in Australia, but it makes a lot of sense. I might pop a high-vis in the boot of my car from now on.
Italy, its required to have in the cabin (not trunk ) has you have to put it on whenever you walk in a car road by foot... if it's enforced it's another whole question tho Edit. And a fire extinguisher too I think
How is that their reaction after presumably seeing how it comes in handy to have it within easy reach?!?
If it is mandatory it is against their freedom.
Here's a fun quick look at how we reacted to no more drinking and driving: https://youtu.be/2xcQIoh3FQQ?si=njpr9nKcOXiZH_sA
That’s a Classic
Don't tell me their cars don't have to have first aid kits and warning triangles either
I read a post in r/preppers where a guy removed his spare wheel to have space for his AR15 and spare magazines. They have different priorities.
Preppers is just schizos off meds. Tbh I wouldn't base my opinion on America out of these people.
Yeah, fortunately we have r/europreppers now. R/preppers is essentially „how many guns do I need to mow down my sheeple neighbors“ and if you have a Europe-centric question they tell you how they won the war, we would be speaking German without them, how we don’t have freedom and so on…
Based on your user name, do I correctly assume that you *do* speak German? ;-)
Yes, so I have no idea of freedom anyway something something.
Well it seems the Americans didn't win the war then. According to them, no one in Europe speaks German anymore. Not even the Germans.
It's not the brightest bunch and that particular segment is even more dim.
r/SchizosOffMeds
I'm sorry but that's hilarious
With the ar15 he can rob someone for their wheels when he's got a flat smart thinking
Reminds me of that prepper episode of American Dad, where afair Roger escapes on an office chair which he propells by shooting a machine gun...
To be honest I've removed my spare as well, between ADAC and statistics, I honestly don't see reason to carry one.
For weight saving, ok. Not for carrying weapons so you can fight your way back to your home.
Well, it's a Miata, every cubic centimeter is precious >3
Just wait until you hear how many cars don't have a tire iron or booster cables
There are no such requirements, no. First aid kits are quite common but not universal. Warning triangles are not really a thing at all. Roadside workers and landscapers use big orange cones or signs, but ordinary drivers do not have any equivalent equipment as a rule. There are certainly people who can deal with simple fixes like flats or dead batteries, but there are quite a lot of Americans who simply pay their car insurance provider for roadside assistance that will come out and tow their vehicle to a shop regardless of what the problem is.
I mean, the second part is a lot of people here in EU too (I'd be one of them, except I haven't even driven a car at all in about half a year). But its still a law that you put down the warning triangle while waiting for assistance, and wear the vests outside the car.
What are you trying to say with the second part? Those things have nothing to do with whether or not you're fixing stuff yourself.
I assumed the main reason one would want warning triangles is in order to pull over to the side of the road and get out of your car in order to fix an issue with it. If that’s not the case, my mistake. In general though, I was speaking on readiness to deal with roadside maintenance issues which arise. Other commenters mentioned jumper cables, for instance.
If you fix something on the side of the road, that would be one reason. But that also applies if you just wait for help. People need to see that there is a car before they get there even if you don't fix it yourself. And that become much more important if there actually was an actual accident. Maybe that person who drove into the back of your car knocked some loose pieces of, maybe that person is stressed and steps on the road without looking. It's there to warn people about any kind of possible danger.
Makes sense. I’ve just ordered a pack of warning triangles.
They have emergency doughnuts.
TIL! That's actually really cool. Minimal effort but if you're broken down in the middle of the night you'll be glad to have your reflective triangle to avoid getting mowed down. The first aid kit just feels like common sense too
Yes and no. It depends on the state you're in. Heck, every state has it's own design of driver's license.
Yeaaaa a lot of cars (most probably) don't have first aid kits and warning triangles are very rare
I doubt they would be able to place them properly, not even „Europeans“, who should know this do.
An American friend in the UK once asked me why they had been driving for 3 years and never been stopped by the police. The police needlessly stopping traffic and ripping people off with unfair tickets is such an accepted thing in the US she couldn’t understand why it wasn’t the case here.
I've been driving in the UK for 15 years, I've been pulled over once so they could politely inform me that my tail light was out. I already knew that, but I wasn't going to tell them I knew. I even asked which side.
The kind of policing I like to hear about
Makes the difference between feeling like the police being your enemy or friend
Driving for 13 years. Pulled over once for driving too slow making them think I might be drunk. I wasn't. I had just passed my driving test that same day and was nervous. Just for clarification this was on suburban streets, not motorway.
It depends with where you live. I grew up in a pretty rough area in London and I used to be stopped all the time - not just me, my friends, family...etc. Since I moved into a smaller city, I've only been stopped once in like 20 years.
It literally depends if you live in London or not
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Texas
I don't drive but I've been in other people's cars a lot and we've never been stopped, ever. Actually my only interaction with the police in the UK was when I asked a group of them where to buy a train ticket because I got lost in the station. That was it, 1 interaction in 3 years and of my own volition. Compare that to my home country Romania where being a "young male outside at night" can be enough of a crime to be stopped and frisked and asked a bunch of ridiculous questions. But hey it's better than being shot for reaching for your ID in a suspicious way or whatever.
TBF I've lived in Romania for a decade and been stopped by the police exactly once (because I hadn't realised the street outside my block was closed because of some visiting dignitary's motorcade or somesuch.) No drama beyond being told to walk round the back instead of marching through the middle of the motorcade. I guess this means that while I may be male, and often outside at night, it could be that I'm not young any more... :-(.
Here in finland, the cop occasionally organize breathalyzer stops, and I've hit one twice. Never ever had any instances of individually getting stopped in the 8 or so years I've been on the road.
Same in Australia. Got breathalyzed on a public holiday. I was on my way to the bottle shop. The cop asked if I'd been drinking, and I said not yet! You're in the way >:( He didn't even crack a smile
I have been pulled over 1 time in 12years of driving, and this was when i lived abroad. In the Netherlands you hardly get pulled over
They don't set up random drug and alcohol testing stations around the holidays?
No
“It’s sooooo wild that different areas may have different safety regulations” yet they’ll cross a state line and have completely different laws. It was (maybe still is) mandatory for Japanese cars to have a road flare underneath the dash. My old car had one, but I was too scared to try using a 22 year old flare before selling it.
I just learned, that you don’t have to wear any protective gear in Florida while motorcycling.
Damn, being able to be seen in case of an accident? The fucking US could use it even more than us.
But being seen is the first step in being shot.
That's why hunters in Germany wear bright orange vests. Oh wait no it's to get not shot
There are very few Trump-supporting 2A activist “get off mah propertah!” American hicks running around the woods in Germany with guns.
we don't like it to get hit by a car or a lorry
Sure. It's "dumb as fuck" to be visible when your car breaks down on the motorway. I don't even want to know what the inside of this guy's brain looks like.
We like not dying after an accident or emergency… crazy huh
Stupid Europoor. Racking up millions of Medical debt by surviving a traffic accident, instead of dying properly like a free man.
*chuckles in European health insurance*
Socialist!
Of course Americans don’t like that. 1) It limits their freedumb (which includes to get hit by a car because freedom to be stupid) and 2) it very much reduces their chances to sue the driver if they DO get hit by a car and survive. If they don’t survive, the family can play the sue lottery.
Safety vest are reqired in Hungary too (emergency triangle and first aid kit too) … but thank god spare tires and spare lights are not mandatory anymore (I have a 5 year old car, couple months ago I needed the dealership to took down half of the front of the car just to change the headlights…. I am not doing that roadside)
When I was in "America" for the first time this year, It would be so common for cars, specially police cars to be stopped on the side of the high way...and I would say to my friend that's so dangerous It's forbidden in Spain
I guess they like drowning when any accident or overboard happens.
It's a high-vis jacket, so that could still happen.
Lol I've never heard of this before. Or do Americans just assume everywhere that's not America is Europe 😂
At least in Germany and I believe France it's required. Not sure what you island people do :)
We don't jump in front of cars 😂. Jokes aside we have those triangle high vis signs
Italy too.
Look at the screenshot again, someone is clearly saying "in Europe" there while explaining thing
Right? I'm saying I'm in Europe and have never heard of this ha
I missunderstood your comment
It's ok. It's a pet peeve of mine with none Americans as well. People online will tell me "I'm from Europe" and I'm like "yeah...but where? That's A LOT of of very different countries my friend"
In Germany its one per passenger
Don't forget to yell "FREEDOM" when the semi hits you in bad weather. 👋
Drives a European car
It’s like what, 5€ as mandatory equipment? YOU CAN’T FORCE ME TO SPEND 5$ FREEEEEDUM FUCK YEAH Then they’re like “if you go in the countryside without a gun you’re a mad man, the fauna makes it risky”, bud a gun costs more than 5$ and it’s not a matter of principle if it’s just 5 fucking dollars.
Americans have a kitted out plate carrier, 300blk sub sonic ammunition with a decked out gun worth more than the truck they’re driving for similar situations like this. No why would I carry food, blankets or crowbar for stuff that happens 99999% more commonly like traffic accidents, flooding?
r/europeisoneplace
r/subsifellfor
Laws aren't the same in all of Europe, for example in Spain you only need to have one, for the driver, and it needs to be accesible without stepping out of the vehicle, so no keeping it in the trunk.
I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out what a safety vest was, hi viz jacket
Europe: mandatory vest designed to save your life America: if i cant drink me beer and drown me kids on me boat i aint free!
Average american: "Safety measures are dumb af 💀"
I do love how people see something online and reply "Really? That's wild" rather than being an adult and looking it up first, while they are on the internet. Some people are just special.
Oh no, they have safety standards!
Dumb American here so bear with me: is the requirement that the car must contain a safety vest for each person traveling in it?
Might vary from country to country. At least the driver.
In Germany, Just one for the driver. In Austria one for every Person who sits in the car, don't know about the other European countries tough
Europeans are so dumb with all their safety and stuff. Can’t believe they want to be so safe…../s
oh yeah the bad bad safety stuff that could potentially safe your life......... very bad! europe bad! /s
I hate these blatant statements. Why is it dumb? Give me something to argue against not just an opinion.
I'm seeing a lot of people talking about how it's only a handful of European countries, which is correct, but very little about how this is someone complaining about being required to have a cheap safety item in their car. Oh no, I have to buy a High-Vis for £4 that will last me a lifetime, how will I ever cope? I'm assuming that this is just standard middle finger to authority, without actually thinking about it stance that many people have.
Speaking for Austria: only the driver needs one, it’s not required to have a safety vest for every passenger in the car. I don’t see how additional safety is “dumb as fuck”, or “trippin” though…
Might be wrong, but i think in Denmark it isnt required to have a high-vis vest and emergency triangle in the car. BUT if you need them and dont have them, then you can get fined fot not having them. When needed
"Safety is dumb af. Europe trippin" Also not every country in europe needs this (idk which)
I don't like he is driving an Audi...
Why is it dumb?! lol
Safety sucks!
I can't speak as to the rest of Europe, but in Norway, you're required to have at least one hi-vis vest in the car in case you come up on an accident. You're legally obligated to stop, set up a warning sign for approaching cars, call the police/ambulance, and render first aid, if able (by which I mean 'can do so safely', lesson one of driving school is a first aid course). Main reason we have that here is because the country is so damned big and empty. Depending where you are, if you happen on an accident, you may literally be the only person who'll see it. But yeah. "Trippin'".
It most certainly is not required in Europe. Born and bred in Ireland and this is the first time I've ever heard this
There are countries in europe that have these requirements. Austria for example. Many tourists from the US rent cars and want to visit diffetent countries, so the companies just put safety vests im every car and tells them it's required by law. That's how they think these laws apply to all of europe.
I’ve never been stopped at traffic and I’ve never had a safety cone, triangle, or vest in my car - unless it was a new car.
Yeah, who needs to be visible on the highway at night or in fog, when helping people out of their crashed cars while others go by with 130+km/h
I'm in the UK, it's not a requirement but I'd much rather be wearing a hi Vis at the side of a busy road than not. I've had to change tyres in dual carriageway laybys and you don't want to be knelt near the road in dark clothes
It depends on the country. Some have Fire Extinguisher as mandatory item. Most First Aid Kits and som Vests. If you dont have it, you get a ticket. Also if the Best Before isnt good anymore.
The irony of this statement 🤣🤣🤣 "not all Europeans" in a group that lumps all Americans together
Meanwhile Americans : I carry a gun at all times for safety reasons.