A recent incident whilst driving on the motorway got me thinking about the current design of car brake lights. Most cars work in the same way i.e. you push the brake pedal and the brake lights come on. It doesn’t matter what speed your doing or how much pressure you put on the brake pedal it’s still the same illuminated warning.
If you are driving at speed and the car in front brakes heavily the only indicator (apart from the brake lights) is that car getting closer to you much quicker. When the car in front brakes lightly there is less of a problem but as mentioned earlier there is only one type of illuminated warning. Obviously keeping a safe distance should allow you enough time to brake safely but the reality is that people don’t drive within the safe stopping zone. I think a slight tweak to current brake lights could help warn people of heavy braking:
- Light brake pressure when mobile would show solid illuminated brake lights
- Light or heavy brake pressure when stationary would show solid illuminated brake lights
- Heavy braking when mobile would show strobe brake lights