People who sit on their brake lights give me the rage

[Tusktusk]

When I’m stuck in a traffic jam and it’s dark, I inevitably end up behind a huge car with super bright brake lights and the driver just sits there for the whole wait time - a good 15 minutes tonight as I was caught up in traffic leaving a big football match - with their foot on the brake, half blinding me with their brake lights!

It seems most people do this now and most modern cars have these super bright in your face brake lights - especially big family 4x4 type of cars. I find it really inconsiderate. Why don’t people use the handbrake in these situations? It’s so much nicer to take all your feet off the pedals and relax while you wait. Plus you won’t be blinding the poor soul sitting behind you!

Is it just me?

Well yes, if you are going to be stationary for an extended period of time then engaging park might make sense...but those occasions are few and far between. All modern automatic ICE cars drop into neutral when auto-hold is activated, and often stop the egine as well (for emissions purposes), so no engine or gearbox damage is going to occur from using the auto-hold function as intended. Indeed, putting the car into neutral and using the 'handbrake' is unliklely to engage the 'stop/start' function on an old fashioned ICE car anyway, so generating more emissions at precisley the point you dont want them - congetsed areas. And as auto-hold is as, if not more, effective than a handbrake at restraining the car I can't see how its more dangerous either, though happy to be enlightened. Of course, if your brake lights aren't illuminated at all then the chances of being shunteed in the rear are higher in the first place...

The fault is with car manufacturers. I want to know when the car in front of me is BRAKING. I do not need to know that it is stopped because that is very obvious by virtue of its not moving. So brake lights should glow during braking but not once stopped.

Another one who doesnt know anything about the motoring world.

Car manufacturers design and build their cars based on legislative requirements and safety parameters.

Blaming them is sorely misplaced.

And given the amount of people on this thread who have issues with their eyes, would they or others with visual impairments see a stopped car ahead of them with no brake lights in time while travelling at speed (on a dual carriageway or motoroway) in inclement weather conditions???

🤦‍♂️

The brightness of lights isn't something they are doing based on regulation- there may well be legislation coming up to reduce the brightness which has gone up rather a lot in recent years

Yanbu about glaring lights. I dread driving in the dark as I feel like I'm constantly blinded.

My car is slightly older but it has sensors and the lights automatically lower and dim when a car comes. I thought this was bloody amazing. But the new cars don't have this feature apparently!

@HelplessSoul “Car manufacturers design and build their cars based on legislative requirements and safety parameters.”
So making the pretty enough so people want to buy them has no part in car design at all?

“they or others with visual impairments” I (and others on this thread) have astigmatism and myopia. These are not vision impairments. A vision impairment is a disability that cannot be corrected with prescription glasses. The vast majority of people with a vision impairment do not drive and will never be granted a license. (The only very rare exceptions being when one eye can compensate adequately for the other, such as a visual field loss in one eye only.)

@Tusktusk "So making the pretty enough so people want to buy them has no part in car design at all?"

Not if it doesnt comply with regulatory requirements. Making a car "pretty" or stylish is not as easy as you think it is.

And you still havent provided any evidence of your earlier claim about brake lights exceeding legislative requirements 🙄 That alone speaks volumes.

It's a good point OP. I always put cruise control on in traffic so think it's automatic, but it's definitely a waste of energy

My car automatically applies the "hand brake" when it stops - the lights come on and stay on until you move off. I only realised when I happened to catch the car's reflection in a shop window one day. I thought the brake lights were malfunctioning.

I might be going off on one here, but does anyone else feel like everything’s getting brighter, louder, and more ridiculous? It’s like people are terrified of not being noticed. Bike lights, phones, and car headlights— LED headlights are brighter than dying stars.
And cinemas! Why is the volume cranked up so much? It’s like they’re preparing for an audience with hearing loss. Or is it just me?

No, the brighter lights are an intentional safety feature.

Unfortunately, they are pretty dazzling in smaller cars. We’ve just changed from a Polo to a bigger car and my husband is elated at how much more comfortable he’s finding driving now, because the lights don’t seem as dazzling and uncomfortable.

Unfortunately most newer cars will keep the brake lights on even if your foot isn’t down.

It can be worth an eye test, astigmatism can make it worse and it’s not uncommon to develop it as you get older. It’s easily corrected.

Mine does, but I'm pretty sure on most cars the dimming feature is really most noticeable when you're on roads that don't have street lights, eg. motorways, etc. Mine dim when there is approaching traffic - for everyday city driving, this feature won't kick in because of the amount of approaching traffic and street lighting.

@HelplessSoul I am making an assumption that there is a minimum brightness requirement for brake lights that all car manufacturers are following. And that many car manufacturers are designing lights that are producing more than minimum brightness. And I am stating that sometimes, in the most bright examples, this most definitely exceeds my comfort levels. I don’t really have the time to look up car manufacturers specifications or safety minimums right now (I’m writing an essay about vision impairments and keep allowing myself to be distracted by my thread 🤣) but if you do have time, please go ahead and find some evidence to prove to me that the brightest of brake lights only comply with the minimum brightness requirement and are no brighter than necessary.

Somebody up thread @midgetastic mentioned that there may be legislation coming to limit how bright car lights can be - I would definitely welcome this!

I find the ridiculously bright lights are the very opposite of safe.

I have a MX-5 and the lights from the monster SUVs shine directly into my eyes which dazzles me. It's even worse on a wet night with all the reflections.

I’m more concerned about people’s incessant use of dazzling lights when they don’t need to eg in a city road with lampposts.

You made the claim, the onus is on you to produce the evidence. I am confident in my position. Are you as confident as you claim? If so, bring the evidence.

"Comfort levels" is a subjective term - just because it exceeds yours doesnt mean it will for others.

You are deflecting and shifting the goal posts now. Thats fine, everyone can see that.

@HelplessSoul Then we are both confident in our positions and the onus is on neither of us to produce evidence.

I genuinely cannot see where I have shifted my position. I also believe that everyone can see that.

Check your posts - you made the claim about brightness levels exceeding requirements.

Not me.

And now that you cant (or wont) find anything to back up your claim, you are deflecting.

So yes, everyone can indeed see.

Anyone with eyes can see that some brake lights, just like some headlights are far brighter than others.

There are quite a few campaigns to bring in requirements to dim these ultra bright headlights. Brake lights are not quite so bothersome, but be stuck in stationary traffic, literally not turning a wheel for an hour, with these super bright brake lights in your eyes the entire time, isn't fun.

Maybe the issue isn't the brightness of them but the automation of these function in newer cars mean drivers don't have to think about it. It's far less likely that a manual car driver would sit in stationary traffic for any length of time with their foot on the brake.

Just like the automation of full beam/dipped beam means cars don't dip their lights early enough.

Do you actually know anything about the Highway Code? Maybe you should brush up on must and should before bitching about it.

Just out of interest, which football match?

If the Highway Code says I ‘should’ do something, I am going to try to do it, as much as is reasonably practicable. Not just ignore it because it uses ‘should’ instead of ‘must’.

Lots of people are saying it exceeds their comfort levels
In fact I have had quite a few chats with people recently who have said how they are struggling with increasingly bright car lights

I'm sure car lights exceed comfort levels for a great many people. But its still a subjective point.

My point is, that from a regulatory, safety and certification standpoint, car makers are making vehicle lights the way that these laws/policies instruct - so they arent doing anything wrong.

They are conforming to the rules that they have to abide by.

And sometimes rules are wrong and need changing