Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site sbcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!sbcs!zorat From: zorat@sbcs.UUCP (Alessandro Zorat) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: turn signals Message-ID: <593@sbcs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 16-Feb-84 09:21:20 EST Article-I.D.: sbcs.593 Posted: Thu Feb 16 09:21:20 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Feb-84 07:22:49 EST Organization: SUNY at Stony Brook Lines: 22 Why is it that many (all?) american cars use the same light for the brakes and the (rear) turn signal? When a driver has the turn signal on and breakes, possibly repeatedly tapping the breakes, it takes me longer to decide whether he/she is blinking left or right. Not so with the amber colored turn signals and (separate) red brake lights. It seems to me that any simple experiment will show that the amber turn signal are faster to recognize and hence probably safer. I write this after having followed a car, that at an intersection moved toward the center of the road, and had one blink on the (red) LEFT turn signal. This led me to conclude that it was turning left, so I started passing it on the right. Of course, the blink I saw was the brake light; the right brake light did not come on because it was inhibited by the RIGHT turn signal being on - or maybe it was burned out, for all I know. It would had (probably) come on if I had waited one more second. But by then I was already passing on the right; when I saw it coming in full swing to the right, I had to do a rather interesting maneuver to avoid getting hit midship. Don't tell me I should not have passed it to the right. My point here is that if that car had had an amber turn signal, this would not have happened.