In our The RV Broke video, we mentioned we would be looking at some additional safety equipment in case we ever ended up stranded on the side of the road – especially at night. After all, when you’re faced with an RV, truck or any vehicle breakdown, it can be pretty stressful and it’s easy to overlook simple yet important things – like not wearing our safety vests! So we’ve created a list for you to stock up on some safety gear!
We did some shopping around to see what options were out there so we could share our findings with you. We’re aware that everyone has different needs, preferences, and types of RV/vehicles, so we’re not presenting just one or two safety gadgets, but several for you to choose from. In this blog post, we share what we already had in our RV and also show you some of the other handy gadgets that we found, personally tried and tested and felt were worthy to share with you here.
We want to help keep you safe during the day AND night, should you end up on the side of a road! It may not ever happen, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, and many of these gadgets are very affordable. You cannot put a price on your safety! We were happy to find some convenient and affordable solutions to those old chemical burning flares that run the risk of causing a fire. Today’s modern LED lights and reflective materials are very bright and can be seen from far away. And while we already had some regular orange safety cones on board, we decided to add some new gear to our safety stash.
Let’s talk through each of the safety gadgets individually.
Simple Traffic / Safety Cone
When we first started RVing, we bought the inexpensive rubbery safety cones from the local hardware store. They are standard stackable cones and weigh about 1-1.5 pounds each. We still had all four until we started using them on our jobsite. Because they are fairly inexpensive (about $10) you don’t need to be overly concerned about leaving them unattended or out overnight.
One of the nice things about these cheap safety cones is that they come in handy for other uses, like temporarily holding a space. They are also good to use for practicing maneuvering your RV into mock street corners or parking when learning how to drive your RV, and it doesn’t matter if you run over them because they will bounce right back.
Collapsible LED Safety Cones
These collapsible safety cones with reflective material have built-in LED lights. A weighted base, and a fabric cone that extends to 17 inches tall. The reflective material allows visibility at night, but for even better visibility at night, there is a built-in light that illuminates the whole cone.
The LED light can also be set to flash on and off drawing even more attention. It is powered by two AAA batteries. The weighted base with rubber feet make them feel very secure.
These cones could be used like the rubber cones for some activities (like sports), because the fabric would be forgiving. But we wouldn’t use them for driving practice because if you run them over with a RV or truck, they might not survive. We bought three of these to add to our safety kit.
These come in a very compact plastic storage case that is an efficient use of space. It is a water-resistant design with reflective material, a comfortable grip and a very bright LED light that runs on 3 AAA batteries for each ‘flare’ – and the batteries are included. While we initially thought these were a bit cheap and flimsy when we opened the case, we actually came to really like the versatility and compactness of these. They are a nice, compact size for keeping in a car and the reflective material would help show at night, but is very little surface area so it would not be visible from great distance with just the reflective material. The Collapsible LED Safety Cones would of course be much more visible.
Emergency Reflective Safety Triangles
These are large 17” reflective triangles that appear to be the only product in this group that are officially DOT (Department of Transportation) approved. They offer excellent visibility with the bright orange base color during the day, and reflective red when lights hit them at night. The triangle shape is very clear from a substantial distance day or night. We have seen many professional drivers using these on the side of the road, and they are definitely a reliable and effective option. They are a bit bulkier and heavier than some may want to carry in your RV. If space and weight are not an issue for you, these would be a good option.
We recommend wearing a safety vest when you are outside of your vehicle so you are more visible to passing motorists. Safety vests are usually orange or bright yellow/green, and will include reflective material for better nighttime visibility. We have had several bright safety vests that we normally wear while gate guarding, but the better option would be a specifically designed reflective safety vest. Make sure to get a size that will fit you, even if you need to put it over the top of a jacket. We found these well-reviewed reflective safety vests on Amazon that come in a range of sizes from Medium up to XX-Large, and just placed our order for these at only $10 each as they are far superior than our gate guarding vests.
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