Front Brake Lights

General Discussion
1

Why don’t cars come with brake lights on the front end as well as the back end? Seems like that could prevent alot of accidents at 4 way stops, for pedestrian traffic, and approaching traffic when you are stopped.

2

Have you considered the confusion at night not knowing if a car is coming toward you or going away, is in the correct lane etc? This is why it is illegal to have other than the specified colors facing a certain direction…

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3

I suspect this might be ruse to get people to use Google . There is a start up looking for investors for such an item that mounts on the windshield .

4

It might have something to do with that being a terrible idea.

If you you can’t manage a four-way stop intersection without that kind of help, maybe you should let someone else do the driving. Four-way stops have a strict set of rules that govern who goes first:

  1. The first car to come to a complete stop goes first.
  2. If two cars come to a stop at the same time across from one another, and they’re going straight, they can both safely proceed at the same time.
  3. If two cars come to a stop at the same time across from one another, and both are turning left, they can both safely proceed at the same time.
  4. If two cars come to a stop at the same time across from one another, and only one is turning left, the turning vehicle yields to oncoming traffic.
  5. If two cars come to a stop at the same time on an adjacent side of the intersection, the car to the right of the other car has the right of way.
  6. If there is any confusion about these rules, just waive the other driver through and wait until the intersection is clear. Delaying your arrival at the next red light by three seconds won’t hurt a thing.
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5

Four-day stops, glad I don’t live there.
Traffic must really back during rush hour. :smiley:

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6

An oddity I encountered while traveling. In The US we turn in front of each other, in France they pass and turn BEHIND each other. Spooky if you haven’t been warned beforehand. The rules are exactly the same, though.

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7

IMO, a number of people will see the brake lights from someone else approaching the same intersection and decide to run through the stop sign. You have your brakes on anyway, and you can wait for the guy in a hurry. Not his road? The bum running the stop sign would disagree.

8

There was a move about 50 years ago to have front combination turn signal/brake lights just like the rear of the car. There were instructions as to how to adapt the wiring. I think some safety group was promoting this.
I didn’t like the idea back then for the reasons given above. The whole movement collapsed in about a year.

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9

Brake lights on the rear are to help prevent drivers behind from running into you when you stop. Very unlikely to run into a car going the other direction when they are stopping. They’re in a completely different lane. Pedestrians (at least ones who want to stay alive) would never rely on brake lights as a reason to step in front of a moving car. If the car isn’t moving, it’s pretty obvious the brake lights are on. Unless the OP is able to ID some situations this would benefit, the downside of more confusing lights on the car fails to outweigh any upsides.

10

Yeah you may be correct that this is drumming up support. I can think of just a few cases where it might be helpful. One of my pet peeves is at a 4 way when some insist on waiting until the other car makes a complete stop before they go. If they knew the guy was braking for a stop, they’d be more inclined to stop and then go right away instead of waiting. Not that I’m impatient but when I want to get someplace I want to go. Also for a pedestrian that would be more willing to step into the crosswalk if they knew the car was braking. But all in all, I’d vote no anyway. Who needs more lights and buzzers?

11

Or maybe even real headlights with high beams on the back for when you are backing up.

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12

:rofl:
Yup!
Then we can really confuse (and blind) people…

13

If I remember right, they were options in 1957 called “back-up lights”. Pretty innovative. Of course some trucks now used for off road have lots of lights mounted and some pointing back.

14

I was thinking the same thing. Stop sign and red light running is a huge and dangerous enough problem without encouraging the idiots.

15

With all the brake lights I see on while driving down the roads and hiways from left foot brakers while doing 70mph

I wonder how many pedestrians would step in front of a car because they saw the front brake lights on thinking the car was going to stop?
I think it would cause more pedestrian accidents