If I’m not mistaken, in the UK isn’t that required? You’ll fail your driving test if you don’t. Regardless, I usually do.
Maybe they’re not as bright in the US, but here they are certainly an irritation at night if you have to sit behind someone who keeps their foot on the brake for more than a few moments. As bright as rear foglights, which are also a real pain to drive behind if someone’s forgotten to turn them off.
[End of hijack]
Rear foglights? Where are rear foglights used any why?
Don’t you have rear foglights over there? They’re compulsory in Europe.
So people can see you from behind in the fog…
We don’t have quite as much fog over here.
Probably because you failed to note that the post you were responding to said “to drivers of AUTOMATICS”…
Unless you’re talking about those new automatics with fake clutch pedals…
Not that anyone is necessarily interested…but I got the scoop today on the headlights. They worked fine 50 times in a row for the auto shop guy (naturally, since it’s daylight), but he thinks it could be the electric relay since neither will respond on the rare occasions when they won’t flip up. I never could locate the bar or rod in question. But then, I don’t have the equipment.
Thanks for the comments.
Yeah, the mortality of your tranny is the most important consideration. You’re at a light, just brake (unless you think you may stall. Holy Shit. Driving at minus 40 is different). BUT, if you are stopped or waiting for more than a minute, go to park and turn of the ignition. Unless you suspect it might not start again.
I hate winter.
trabi -
Bad Idea to take your foot off the brake at a stoplight, especially at night.
Someone may not see that a car is stopped at the light.
What if someone is approaching from behind, and the light turns green, they may not slow down, because they don’t see that there is a car that has not accelerated through the light.
Keep your foot on the brake. Don’t bother with the parking brake, just gonna where out the mechanism.
The parking brake only engages two wheels, why mess with it when you have real brakes?
Good luck with that. I didn’t comment earlier, but I will add that diagnosing pop-up headlight problems was one of my all-time least favourite tasks as an auto mechanic back in the 1980’s. They would have a maddening habit of behaving themselves as soon as you started working on them, and then quit at the worst possible time, such as in the middle of a rainstorm at 10:00pm.
Yes, exactly! That’s when they would do it. Or even on a warm evening. But they would be fine the next day, of course, when they weren’t necessary! It was only three times in two years, but still scary every time. I didn’t think I could bear it again.
Hey, I remember you…somebody’s sig line said “Anthracite saved my life.”
Yes?
Yes. I’ve changed my name on this Board to match what I use everywhere else, and because the Staff Reports I’m writing are all under this name.
Una
If the light has just turned green, they should have seen it changing as they approached. If it’s long been green you should already be on your way. If the person coming up behind you is really unable to judge the speed of the car in front without the aid of your brake lights, then he/she is either drunk or half asleep.
Incidentally, I was mainly referring to people who sit in front of you in a line of cars that has already stopped, and are too lazy to put the car in neutral and take their foot off the brake. This can really get irritating after a while, especially is the car has a third brake light and/or if it’s a bit misty or drizzly.
In a manual, I’d rather wear out the handbrake mechanism than the clutch plates.
I know that in an automatic you tend to ride the brake in slow traffic, which means that the brake lights can stay on even when moving. Again, I find this irritating, but there aren’t that many automatics around here, so I don’t see it that often. Almost everyone in the US drives an automatic (so I’m told), so maybe you are all either used to this or the brake lights there aren’t as bright as in Europe?
I think you’re confused - enipla was talking about manual brake versus main brakes, not manual brake versus clutch. The use of the clutch had nothing to do with the portion you were quoting.
trabi - I don’t think they’re any less bright in the States. We just must be more used to it. To tell you the truth, I really haven’t noticed that people here (in Europe) lay off the main brake at lights. My usual technique is to put the car in neutral at the light and keep a foot on the main brake. (Perhaps an old automatic habit, but it makes sense to me.) I only engage the parking brake (and lay off the main brake) on slopes.
And it would confuse me at night to see someone stopped at night without the brake lights on, because I’m so used to it.
pulykamell -
First of all, it’s only a minor irritation (not worth getting out and smashing the other guy’s lights out with the wheelbrace), but worth thinking about, especially if the car behind you in the queue is small and your brake lights are quite high up. It’s more dazzling in rain or drizzle, by the way.
The brake lights on my van are fairly high up, so I tend to lay off the brake as much as possible if sitting in traffic for a long time. As far as I’m concerned this is just a simple courtesy. 
Obviously, if I’m only stopped for a few moments it’s not worth the hassle.
Also, having lived in the same city as you for a good seven years I can’t believe you haven’t seen someone stopped at night without brake lights. It shouldn’t be that confusing anyway:
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If the car is getting larger, it’s probably stopped or moving very slowly.
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If you are stopped and the car is getting larger, it is reversing towards you.*
*[SUB]In Hungary, reversing lights are no sure sign that the car is actually reversing - I have been overtaken on the motorway by cars with their reversing lights on[/SUB]
Snarky, are we?
You’d be surprised. If you’re going fairly quickly, you might not notice the car. I don’t have particularly wonderful night vision, so I welcome any vicual clue as to what the car in front of me is doing. I also particularly like the third brake light. I like it when people have the courtesy to brake AND use the emergency blinkers to indicate a sharp drop in speed and a traffic queue ahead (something they don’t seem to do in the States.)
For me, at least, the brake light gives me immediate information, and perhaps an extra split second of reaction time or, in more extreme cases, that there is a car there at all. I find that on long hauls when you become very tired and less perceptive (and when it’s probably best to just pull over and nap) that bright brake lights are particularly welcome.
No, sorry if I gave that impression. Also, we may be talking at cross purposes.
Again, let me stress that I am not talking about when you are sitting alone at a traffic light, but when sitting in a queue with people behind you who have already stopped.
But anyway, you shouldn’t be going too fast to see a car in front (and presumably the red light that it’s stopped at), and you shouldn’t be relying on someone else using their brake lights in a situation where it isn’t even compulsory. If you don’t notice the car it’s your fault, not the fault of the guy who isn’t sitting on the brake light (assuming he’s not stopped in a really silly place or doesn’t have any lights on etc… etc…).
Like I said, it’s only really an issue if there is someone sitting behind you who has already stopped. Most of the time I don’t bother taking my foot of the brake either if I’m alone at a red light, and this probably does make me more noticeable from a distance. But then I also keep an eye in the mirror for drivers coming up from behind, especially when the pubs are closing…
I agree, this is a very good thing indeed, but again, not what I was talking about. It is only done on motorways or dual carriageways when decellerating suddenly from very high speed to almost a standstill. It is a supplement to the primary purpose of brakelights - i.e. to indicate that the car is slowing down or stopping, and not that it is standing still. The idea is to relay the signal back to the people who are still travelling at motorway speed and haven’t yet arrived at the bottleneck. But even then, most people switch them off once the immediate danger has passed. (BTW, some new cars automatically switch on the hazard warners under hard braking.)
Let’s say the above has happened: If, after the queue has slowed down behind me and there’s no danger of someone ploughing into me from behind at 140km/h, and the traffic continues to crawl for the next couple of miles I would still avoid dazzling the person behind me with my brake lights any more than necessary.
With me it’s the opposite: When I’m tired - and my eyes are sensitive to glare - I find the unnecessary use of brake lights particularly obtrusive. Again, I should stress that I’m talking about crawling in slow traffic a few feet away from the car in front, not arriving at an intersection in a built-up area at 240km/h.:eek: