Amber signals far more luminating

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2008 (6427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The other day I was following a big white limo down the main street of our mountain town. The beast was huge, easily long enough to serve as an emergency bridge should local creeks flood. At one point it managed to occupy two intersections, while waiting to turn right. The driver had swung to the left, obviously wanting to avoid snagging the curb. Another motorist in a small Honda, who hadn’t noticed the red turn indicator winking lazily from the limo’s rear end, tried to duck inside and make a right turn of his own. Fortunately, the chauffeur was alert enough to let the fellow though, and a fender-bender was avoided.

I have a new style and safety proposal for all vehicles. Whynot make all front turn signal lights white? This would not only look cool, but as an added enhancement, the flashing indicator would be tougher to see in most light conditions, contributing to the general excitement of today’s driving environment.

Okay, it is a little late to be an April Fool’s joke, but red rear turn signal lights are just as dumb an idea. These things should have been long gone by now. We don’t need a government survey telling us that amber lights are better, simple logic should suffice. Red means stop, amber is a warning. That seems straightforward enough. On the racetrack, we have yellow flags and red flags. Two completely different meanings.

Years ago, you could blame red turn signals on regulations, but their current use in North America has more to do with style. It really doesn’t make sense, though. What if a vehicle has a burned-out brake light? Some other motorist could mistake the one-sided flash as a turn indicator, especially if the driver were a brake-tapper by nature. Amber stands out from an otherwise red display, and is more likely to catch the eye. Therefore, better turn signals are a safety feature, and should be part of any shopper’s list when looking for a vehicle.

On the subject of lights, Saab came up with a feature a few years ago that was interesting. If the car detected either braking or activation of turn signals, it delayed transmitting incoming cellular phone calls, on the basis that the driver was otherwise occupied. Imagine that. A bit of nannyism, perhaps, but the idea is sound. It would be even better if all phones came with an answering message like “I’m sorry, I can’t answer the phone right now, I’m driving.”

In Europe, all cars with high output headlights, such as xenon, have to also be equipped with headlight washers and either self-levelling lights or self-levelling suspension. The former is just common sense. Sweden has required headlight washers as standard equipment since the mid-70s, and their driving environment is not too different from ours. The latter is to reduce the chance of temporarily blinding oncoming traffic. Another good idea.

Rear fog lights, again mandatory in Europe, are simply a brighter red light, usually mounted on one side only, that makes a vehicle much more visible in fog or snow. Crash statistics seem to bear out the usefulness of these devices. My Volvo has one. It does actually require thinking, since you have to switch it on and off. Otherwise, in clear conditions, the light is too bright and could be a distraction to following motorists. My neighbour was running around for months with the fog light on, convinced that a taillight was out, until I showed him the dashboard switch on his Volvo that activated the feature.

I am willing to bet there are quite a few high-end European cars cruising the streets with their rear fog lights permanently turned on. The owners probably don’t have a clue this is happening. Given our mistaken trend towards using front fog lights as extra running lights instead of switching them on during inclement conditions only, maybe we shouldn’t be trusted with any extra controls.

Alan Sidorov is an experienced racer, product tester and freelance writer. You can reach Alan at the website below.

www.spdt.ca