Improvement to the 3rd Brake Light

[Octopus]

I was thinking, currently the 3rd brake light only gives a 'on' and 'off' indication, but does not reflect the intensity of braking force. Therefore, while traveling on the expressway we do not know the car in front when the brake is it a light tap to slow down or hard braking.

 

Possible improvement I'm thinking was a 3rd brake light which would reflect whether the brake is a light tap or emergency brake, by the length of the lighted 3rd brake light. IF it is a light tap to slow down, 1 foot length of 3rd brake light showing. If moderate braking, 2 feet length of 3rd brake light showing. IF its a emergency brake, full 3 feet length of 3rd brake light would show.

If there is such a 3rd brake light I believe the accident would reduce, because people would not hard brake unintentionally because he can see whether the car in front is a light tap or hard brake. Does such a 3rd brake light exist?

[Dice]

i would just be happy if all the Comfort Sonata blue taxi will actually install a proper 3rd brake light!! if anyone notice, theirs are always not working or they just make-do with a single small 5-cents light bulb when on a bright day u can miss it... the lights from their tail light also felt dim

[Roh96]

Nothing beats keeping a safe distance behind.

[Wyfitms]

Nothing beats keeping a safe distance behind.

 

agree!

[Knoobie]

have more road awareness.. observe not only the vehicle infront but the one infront of it as well..

 

have no issues telling from hard braking or a habitual brake tapper..

 

here's a story for you..

 

 

Money well spent??

A Short Story for Engineers
You don’t have to be an engineer to appreciate this story.

A toothpaste factory had a problem: Due to the way the production line was set up, sometimes empty boxes were shipped without the tube inside. People with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming off of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which cannot be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean quality assurance checks must be smartly distributed across the production line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket won’t get frustrated and purchase another product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory gathered the top people in the company together. Since their own engineering department was already stretched too thin, they decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP (request for proposal), third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later a fantastic solution was delivered — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. The problem was solved by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box off the line, then press another button to re-start the line.

A short time later, the CEO decided to have a look at the ROI (return on investment) of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. There were very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That was some money well spent!” he said, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

The number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. How could that be? It should have been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers indicated the statistics were indeed correct. The scales were NOT picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Perplexed, the CEO traveled down to the factory and walked up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed. A few feet before the scale, a $20 desk fan was blowing any empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. Puzzled, the CEO turned to one of the workers who stated, “Oh, that…One of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang!”

$8 million vs $20 Hmmm! Money well spent?

<author unknown>

 

 

Edited April 8, 2014 by Knoobie

[Leezld]

I believe Mercedes already has such improvements to their 3rd Brake light?

 

Under normal braking, the 3rd brake light will light up as usual. However under hard braking, the 3rd brake light will actually flash intermittently and in rapid succession. Apparently, this improves the reaction of braking for the driver behind.

[Steptronic]

Very simple why to complicate things?

 

I would suggest that third light shows how much distance the car behind should maintain based on the 2 sec rule!

[Octopus]

have more road awareness.. observe not only the vehicle infront but the one infront of it as well..

 

have no issues telling from hard braking or a habitual brake tapper..

 

here's a story for you..

 

 

 

I agree its best to see the few vehicle ahead of the front vehicle, but sometime it is difficult to do so if the front vehicle is a SUV or MPV or some cars with very dark windows films.

[Steptronic]

Yes, BMW also has this feature. Hard braking is with flashing lights!

 

I believe Mercedes already has such improvements to their 3rd Brake light?

 

Under normal braking, the 3rd brake light will light up as usual. However under hard braking, the 3rd brake light will actually flash intermittently and in rapid succession. Apparently, this improves the reaction of braking for the driver behind.

 

[Octopus]

Very simple why to complicate things?

 

I would suggest that third light shows how much distance the car behind should maintain based on the 2 sec rule!

 

The reason for the improvement is to reduce unnecessary braking especially along expressway. I believe most drivers had experience that from far (8 or 9 cars infront) brake, and soon the effect when it reach you is almost a complete stop on the expressway. Reason is cars behind cannot judge whether its hard brake or light tap, so to be safe most car will brake more than necessary.

[Steptronic]

This situation occurs on Lane 1 often because of the following stupid reasons:

 

1. Everyone wants to die die reach Lane 1

2. Poor judgement of speed in lane changing (sharp cut-in and the wrose is braking after lane change to make more distance in his front)

3. Sort of tail gating driving all the time (no proper distance maintained)

 

Now, coming back to your idea, Effective braking depends on 2 things

 

1. Braking efficiency / distance

2. Reacting time

 

We already screwed up Breaking distance because of tail gating style driving these days. If we screw up the reaction time also by complicating things like measuring the 3rd red light length and all, an average driver can screw up completely!

 

 

The reason for the improvement is to reduce unnecessary braking especially along expressway. I believe most drivers had experience that from far (8 or 9 cars infront) brake, and soon the effect when it reach you is almost a complete stop on the expressway. Reason is cars behind cannot judge whether its hard brake or light tap, so to be safe most car will brake more than necessary.

 

[Nzy]

Yes, BMW also has this feature. Hard braking is with flashing lights!

 

 

 

I think many cars have this already. Some is the hazard light flashing when braking hard.

[Mockngbrd]

BMW is "Brake Force Display"

http://www.gizmag.com/go/2766/

 

 

 

Brake Force Display works by increasing the intensity of the brake lights in the rear lamp clusters by expanding the number of illuminated LEDs under heavy braking.

 

The extra lighting is triggered after the anti-lock brake sensors detect a rate of deceleration in excess of 5 m/second. As an example of the force of the braking, at 5 m/second, a briefcase placed on a car seat would accelerate off the seat onto the floor.

The system reacts within a few tenths of a second to increase the intensity of the stoplight illumination, projecting a highly visible warning beacon to following traffic.

 

Only deceleration forces trigger Brake Force Display, not simply pedal pressure, in order to avoid unnecessary illumination.

 

Edited April 8, 2014 by Mockngbrd

[Super7]

 

I think many cars have this already. Some is the hazard light flashing when braking hard.

 

Many pile-ups on the expressways are caused by slow rections of the drivers behind when the one in front brakes suddenly.

 

If the brake lights can be activated asap the driver lifts his right foot from the accelerator (before hitting the brake), this may give the driver behind more time to react through such an early warning. The split second advanced notice can sometimes save the day.

 

For the matter, the third car behind will get an early warning if the brake light of the first car is mounted high (above the top of the rear windscreen as in some wagons), so that the driver can have a better chance of seeing the first car is braking even before the 2nd driver in front of him hits the brakes.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Super7

[Mockngbrd]

 

If the brake lights can be activated asap the driver lifts his right foot from the accelerator (before hitting the brake), this may give the driver behind more time to react through such an early warning. The split second advanced notice can sometimes save the day.

 

Maybe the driver behind should like you know, keep a safe distance.

 

[Super7]

 

I agree its best to see the few vehicle ahead of the front vehicle, but sometime it is difficult to do so if the front vehicle is a SUV or MPV or some cars with very dark windows films.

 

In heavy but fast traffic eg when cars going at say 90kmh like in a convoy / trains, even while maintaining safe gap between cars, it is better to be able to see if the cars ahead (not just the one immediately in front) are braking.

 

If i am driving a big size vehs eg SUV i am likely to block the view of the driver behind ie he cant see the brake lights of the car in front of me. A friend taught me to stay slightly staggered to the right or left of the car in front, this will give some space for the driver behind me to see the tail lights of the car in front of me.

[Kklim]

i would just be happy if all the Comfort Sonata blue taxi will actually install a proper 3rd brake light!! if anyone notice, theirs are always not working or they just make-do with a single small 5-cents light bulb when on a bright day u can miss it... the lights from their tail light also felt dim

Ya, the stock bulbs in Hyundais aren't reliable. Changed the bulb in my 3rd brake light to LED after it blew twice.

[Super7]

 

Maybe the driver behind should like you know, keep a safe distance.

 

 

If my car let go black smoke, he sure keeps a distance behind (Smoke which is artificially coloured black, but passes vicom)