(a) Whenever any motor truck, passenger bus, truck tractor, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer is disabled upon the traveled portion of any highway or the shoulder thereof outside of any municipality at any time when lighted lamps are required on vehicles the driver of such vehicle shall display the following warning devices upon the highway during the time the vehicle is so disabled on the highway except as provided in subsection (b):

(1) A lighted fusee shall be immediately placed on the roadway at the traffic side of the motor vehicle unless electric lanterns are displayed.

(2) Within the burning period of the fusee and as promptly as possible three lighted flares (pot torches) or three electric lanterns shall be placed on the roadway as follows:

One at a distance of approximately one hundred feet in advance of the vehicle, one at a distance of approximately one hundred feet to the rear of the vehicle, each in the center of the lane of traffic occupied by the disabled vehicle, and one at the traffic side of the vehicle approximately ten feet rearward or forward thereof.

(b) Whenever any vehicle used in the transportation of flammable liquids in bulk, or transporting compressed flammable gases is disabled upon a highway at any time or place mentioned in subsection (a) of this section, the driver of such vehicle shall display upon the roadway the following lighted warning devices: One red electric lantern shall be immediately placed on the roadway at the traffic side of the vehicle and two other red electric lanterns shall be placed to the front and rear of the vehicle in the same manner prescribed in subsection (a) above for flares.

When a vehicle of a type specified in subsection (b) is disabled the use of flares, fusees, or any signal produced by flame as warning signals is prohibited.

(c) Whenever any vehicle of a type referred to in this section is disabled upon the traveled portion of a highway or the shoulder thereof outside of any municipality at any time when the display of fusees, flares, or electric lanterns is not required, the driver of such vehicle shall display two red flags upon the roadway in the lane of traffic occupied by the disabled vehicle, one at a distance of approximately one hundred feet in advance of the vehicle, and one at a distance of approximately one hundred feet to the rear of the vehicle.

(d) In the alternative it shall be deemed a compliance with this section in the event three portable reflector units on standards of a type approved by the state road commissioner are displayed at the times and under the conditions specified in this section either during the daytime or at nighttime and such portable reflector units shall be placed on the roadway in the locations as described with reference to the placing of electric lanterns and lighted flares.

(e) The flares, fusees, lanterns, and flags to be displayed as required in this section shall conform with the requirements of section thirty-nine of this article applicable thereto.