Ah crap. Chalk up another of my ideas that someone else got around to inventing first. Well, actually I originally wanted a strip of LEDs on my rear bumper hooked to the tach. They would start in the center a dark blue and spread evenly to both sides changing to a purple as the RPMs climbed. That way people could see when I dropped the hammer on them. After that initial inspiration I decided that the brake lights could have an analog display as well, although I always imagined them in the same configurations the are now. They'd just glow brighter as more deceleration was detected.
But a bunch of brain-wads at Virginia Tech think they have a better system with yellow LEDs in addition to red. Yellow would signal mild slowing, red and yellow for medium and flashing red for crash braking. My first problem with this is the flashing red symbology. Right now that means someone is tapping their breaks; maybe thinking about slowing down. But if this new system takes effect it'll mean that I'm about to hit them.
Second off, I get what they're after. They want to try and avoid those traffic jams caused by people all tapping their brakes. The folks in back aren't sure if they're really slowing down and in turn flash their own brake lights. So maybe a yellow light will dampen this effect. But you'd better do an ass-load of testing before you even think about making us all retrofit our cars on a whim. I don't want to junx up the back of my car, but mostly this is trating the symptoms, not the disease. People suck at driving and shouldn't hit their brakes so readily in traffic. Find a way for people to not suck so bad and you'll really be onto something.
In the mean time, you could implement an analog brake light system in new cars without having to reinvent the whole system for everyone else.
But a bunch of brain-wads at Virginia Tech think they have a better system with yellow LEDs in addition to red. Yellow would signal mild slowing, red and yellow for medium and flashing red for crash braking. My first problem with this is the flashing red symbology. Right now that means someone is tapping their breaks; maybe thinking about slowing down. But if this new system takes effect it'll mean that I'm about to hit them.
Second off, I get what they're after. They want to try and avoid those traffic jams caused by people all tapping their brakes. The folks in back aren't sure if they're really slowing down and in turn flash their own brake lights. So maybe a yellow light will dampen this effect. But you'd better do an ass-load of testing before you even think about making us all retrofit our cars on a whim. I don't want to junx up the back of my car, but mostly this is trating the symptoms, not the disease. People suck at driving and shouldn't hit their brakes so readily in traffic. Find a way for people to not suck so bad and you'll really be onto something.
In the mean time, you could implement an analog brake light system in new cars without having to reinvent the whole system for everyone else.
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