Flashing Brake Lights

Looks like the US won't be the only country with flashing brake lights
from now on. I wonder how well this would work with red turn signals
though. Steady burning, braking; flashing slowly, turning; flashing
fast, braking hard. Hmm...

http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cf...id/2050228.003

Ulf

--
ulf.cc

Ulf wrote:
> Looks like the US won't be the only country with flashing brake
> lights from now on.

Hoorah, one less weapon for the LLBs. (They can't try and send
a message to the people they're blocking now, because it will
be interpreted as yet another case of needless braking, rather
than an intentional flash).

In article >,
Ulf <to.e-mail.see@homepage> wrote:
>Looks like the US won't be the only country with flashing brake lights
>from now on. I wonder how well this would work with red turn signals
>though. Steady burning, braking; flashing slowly, turning; flashing
>fast, braking hard. Hmm...
>
>http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cf...id/2050228.003

Many cars will flash the turn signals fast if one of the bulbs has
failed. Quick flashing brake lamps will light up on both sides and
the center, but the message may become more ambiguous if the brake
lamp bulbs on one side and the center are burned out on a car with
red rear turn signals.

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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

> Looks like the US won't be the only country with flashing brake lights
> from now on. I wonder how well this would work with red turn signals
> though. Steady burning, braking; flashing slowly, turning; flashing
> fast, braking hard. Hmm...
>
> http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cf...id/2050228.003

It won't. That's why it's not allowed in North America. Whoops, maybe a
different rear turn signal color would've been a smart idea.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, Old Wolf wrote:

> > Looks like the US won't be the only country with flashing brake lights
> > from now on.
>
> Hoorah, one less weapon for the LLBs. (They can't try and send
> a message to the people they're blocking now, because it will
> be interpreted as yet another case of needless braking, rather
> than an intentional flash).

Except that flashing the center brake light to indicate heavy braking is
not legal in the US or Canada, and there aren't any current plans for that
to change.

Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>>Looks like the US won't be the only country with flashing brake lights
>>from now on. I wonder how well this would work with red turn signals
>>though. Steady burning, braking; flashing slowly, turning; flashing
>>fast, braking hard. Hmm...
>>
>>http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cf...id/2050228.003
>
>
> It won't. That's why it's not allowed in North America. Whoops, maybe a
> different rear turn signal color would've been a smart idea.

Why messing around with flashing brake lights to begin with? Wouldn't it
be better to reserve red as the "brake color" and start using green, or
some other unused color, for tail lights. Then it would be much easier
to distinguish when someone's braking. Of course, if this would be
proposed it would probably end up being a Europe only, or possibly a
the-whole-world-except-the-US, kind of thing.

How hard can it be for the world to decide on universal regulations, and
what happened to the GTR, anyway?


Ulf

--
ulf.cc

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 20:09:43 -0500, "Daniel J. Stern"
> wrote:

>On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, Old Wolf wrote:
>
>> > Looks like the US won't be the only country with flashing brake lights
>> > from now on.
>>
>> Hoorah, one less weapon for the LLBs. (They can't try and send
>> a message to the people they're blocking now, because it will
>> be interpreted as yet another case of needless braking, rather
>> than an intentional flash).
>
>Except that flashing the center brake light to indicate heavy braking is
>not legal in the US or Canada, and there aren't any current plans for that
>to change.

Back in the 70s & 80s, there was a device marketed for bikes to flash
the brake light.
I got one for my 75 Gold Wing, but mounted two extra turn signals
(amber lenses) and connected it to them. So, when I used the brakes,
the red light came on, and the two amber lights flashed.
I was told it was awesome in fog!

--
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, Big Bill wrote:

> Back in the 70s & 80s, there was a device marketed for bikes to flash
> the brake light.

Yeah, and the hucksters are still marketing them as "safety" devices for
cars *and* bikes.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:28:08 -0500, "Daniel J. Stern"
> wrote:

>On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, Big Bill wrote:
>
>> Back in the 70s & 80s, there was a device marketed for bikes to flash
>> the brake light.
>
>Yeah, and the hucksters are still marketing them as "safety" devices for
>cars *and* bikes.

Used as I did, they are indeed attention grabbers.

--
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005, Big Bill wrote:

> >> Back in the 70s & 80s, there was a device marketed for bikes to flash
> >> the brake light.
> >
> >Yeah, and the hucksters are still marketing them as "safety" devices
> >for cars *and* bikes.
>
> Used as I did, they are indeed attention grabbers.

Used as you did, they are safety-reducers. The color, intensity and
steady-burning or flashing modes of all the different functions are
standardized. When you randomly decide to change things because you think
it will "grab attention" and assume it'll improve safety, you're not only
wrong, but dumb, too.