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Front Brake Lights Could Drastically Diminish Road Accident Rates

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  • I still think rear signaling could be improved dramatically by using a wide third-brake light to show the intensity of braking.

    For example -- I have seen some aftermarket turn signals which are bars the width of the vehicle, and show a "moving" signal starting in the center and then progressing towards the outer edge of the vehicle.

    So now take that idea for brake. When you barely have your foot on the brake pedal, it would light a couple lights in the center of your brake signal. Press a little harder and now it's lighting up 1/4 of the lights from the center towards the outside edge of the vehicle. And when you're pressing the brake pedal to the floor, all of the lights are lit up from the center to the outside edges of the vehicle. The harder you press on the pedal, the more lights are illuminated.

    Now you have an immediate indication of just how hard the person in front of you is braking. With the normal on/off brake signals, you don't know what's happening until moments later as you determine how fast you are approaching that car. They could be casually slowing, or they could be locking up their wheels for an accident in front of them.

    I have seen some cars flash their brake lights when ABS is activated, but this would be better

  • I still think rear signaling could be improved dramatically by using a wide third-brake light to show the intensity of braking.

    For example -- I have seen some aftermarket turn signals which are bars the width of the vehicle, and show a "moving" signal starting in the center and then progressing towards the outer edge of the vehicle.

    So now take that idea for brake. When you barely have your foot on the brake pedal, it would light a couple lights in the center of your brake signal. Press a little harder and now it's lighting up 1/4 of the lights from the center towards the outside edge of the vehicle. And when you're pressing the brake pedal to the floor, all of the lights are lit up from the center to the outside edges of the vehicle. The harder you press on the pedal, the more lights are illuminated.

    Now you have an immediate indication of just how hard the person in front of you is braking. With the normal on/off brake signals, you don't know what's happening until moments later as you determine how fast you are approaching that car. They could be casually slowing, or they could be locking up their wheels for an accident in front of them.

    I think a secondary light that blinks quickly would be a good signal of emergency braking. Like some aftermarket motorcycle taillights that start with a blinking pattern before they stay on, but reverse the order.

    So, standard brake light comes on at the standard time, at the first touch of the brake. For stronger braking, the second light comes on. For emergency braking, the standard brake light stays lit while the second light begins blinking frantically.

    Edit for consistency

  • This is stupid

  • It is to colorblind people. You could use something else of course, just saying...

    It's doesn't matter, since the absence or presence of light would still be perceived by colour blind people. It doesn't change how they would drive, as they are already driving with the knowledge of colour blindness in mind when looking at tail lights.

  • Theres a saying in computer stuff that applies nicely here. PEBKAC, problem exists between keyboard and computer...turn signals have to be turned on, no amount of engineering can fix bad driving.

    I've actually always found it weird with all the automation vehicles have, that blinkers aren't linked to the wheel. it already automatically disengages when turning, it shouldn't be too hard to have it auto engage as well when turning

  • it's forbidden to use rear fog lights under rain (it's more confusing than helpful)

    if you live somewhere dry, that's not a concern. But here it rains 1 day in 3

    I don't know where you are but rear fogs aren't illegal in the rain here and from experience they are nothing but helpful in heavy rain and white out snow. I am always so so sooo glad when someone in front of me is using them when it's absolutely pouring. You really have to not be paying attention not to notice that it's two lights and not three and somehow mistake them for stop lights.

    In fact, Transport Canada recommends using them in fog, rain, or snow.

    Use only if driving in fog, rain or snow as these lights can be confused with stop lights, distracting other drivers.

  • It's doesn't matter, since the absence or presence of light would still be perceived by colour blind people. It doesn't change how they would drive, as they are already driving with the knowledge of colour blindness in mind when looking at tail lights.

    It's doesn't matter, since the absence or presence of light would still be perceived by colour blind people. It doesn't change how they would drive, as they are already driving with the knowledge of colour blindness in mind when looking at tail lights.

    Tail lights being red is fine if you live with the most common forms of colorblindness which fall into what we call “red-green colorblind.” It is still a different color than headlights.

    Now put those same red-green lights on the front, and we have a problem.

  • By signaling to oncoming traffic and vehicles approaching from the side, a front brake light provides an essential visual cue that a car is slowing down or preparing to stop. When the light is extinguished, it indicates that a stationary vehicle might initiate movement. According to Tomasch, this visual feedback can significantly truncate the reaction time for other road users, leading to shorter stopping distances and consequently diminishing the likelihood of accidents.

    Sounds reasonable. Personally I just want front turn signals to be visible from the opposite side again.

    So it sounds like you're checking to see when the light turns off, to know that the car is going.

    Sounds like what we actually need is a green accelerator light on the front of the car.

  • I still think rear signaling could be improved dramatically by using a wide third-brake light to show the intensity of braking.

    For example -- I have seen some aftermarket turn signals which are bars the width of the vehicle, and show a "moving" signal starting in the center and then progressing towards the outer edge of the vehicle.

    So now take that idea for brake. When you barely have your foot on the brake pedal, it would light a couple lights in the center of your brake signal. Press a little harder and now it's lighting up 1/4 of the lights from the center towards the outside edge of the vehicle. And when you're pressing the brake pedal to the floor, all of the lights are lit up from the center to the outside edges of the vehicle. The harder you press on the pedal, the more lights are illuminated.

    Now you have an immediate indication of just how hard the person in front of you is braking. With the normal on/off brake signals, you don't know what's happening until moments later as you determine how fast you are approaching that car. They could be casually slowing, or they could be locking up their wheels for an accident in front of them.

    Japan introduced brake lights that increase intensity based on how hard the driver was braking. 20+ years ago. They tested it in the US and drivers found it to be “confusing.”

  • I still think rear signaling could be improved dramatically by using a wide third-brake light to show the intensity of braking.

    For example -- I have seen some aftermarket turn signals which are bars the width of the vehicle, and show a "moving" signal starting in the center and then progressing towards the outer edge of the vehicle.

    So now take that idea for brake. When you barely have your foot on the brake pedal, it would light a couple lights in the center of your brake signal. Press a little harder and now it's lighting up 1/4 of the lights from the center towards the outside edge of the vehicle. And when you're pressing the brake pedal to the floor, all of the lights are lit up from the center to the outside edges of the vehicle. The harder you press on the pedal, the more lights are illuminated.

    Now you have an immediate indication of just how hard the person in front of you is braking. With the normal on/off brake signals, you don't know what's happening until moments later as you determine how fast you are approaching that car. They could be casually slowing, or they could be locking up their wheels for an accident in front of them.

    I think that's a neat idea, but we could instead, collectively, just do better at following other cars at a safe distance. I know it's impractical to expect all drivers on the road everywhere to change their behavior, but it's also persistently frustrating as someone who has for years frequently been stuck in traffic to see 95% of drivers insist on following less than a car-length behind. Following too closely to enable decision-making or accommodate other drivers is the cause of like 98% of both traffic accidents and congestion, according to my completely anecdotal and made up research.

  • Japan introduced brake lights that increase intensity based on how hard the driver was braking. 20+ years ago. They tested it in the US and drivers found it to be “confusing.”

    BMW has implemented this in the US market for the past 20 years or so at least. Under heavy braking, additional brake lights turn on. I believe they call that Brake Force Display. I’m sure they’re not the only manufacturer to do this, too

  • Not selling tanks as cars could also help. Especially with fatality rates

  • It's doesn't matter, since the absence or presence of light would still be perceived by colour blind people. It doesn't change how they would drive, as they are already driving with the knowledge of colour blindness in mind when looking at tail lights.

    Tail lights being red is fine if you live with the most common forms of colorblindness which fall into what we call “red-green colorblind.” It is still a different color than headlights.

    Now put those same red-green lights on the front, and we have a problem.

    But why? Again, the perception would be absence or presence of light on a standardized indicator.

    FYI signal lights are much more strictly regulated in Europe, such as position, colour, shape and strength.

    This study is from Austria.

  • It's doesn't matter, since the absence or presence of light would still be perceived by colour blind people. It doesn't change how they would drive, as they are already driving with the knowledge of colour blindness in mind when looking at tail lights.

    Tail lights being red is fine if you live with the most common forms of colorblindness which fall into what we call “red-green colorblind.” It is still a different color than headlights.

    Now put those same red-green lights on the front, and we have a problem.

    They could use traffic light green. There's not any problems identifying those even in places with the lights mounted horizontally. There's enough difference in saturation you can tell the difference even with colorblindness.

  • Here's an idea. How about we zap the drivers after they make a turn if they didn't use a turn signal beforehand? 😀

    Cars with lane-keep assist with vibrate the steering wheel and beep at you. It's at least something but I think most people turn it off if it gets annoying

  • It's doesn't matter, since the absence or presence of light would still be perceived by colour blind people. It doesn't change how they would drive, as they are already driving with the knowledge of colour blindness in mind when looking at tail lights.

    A lot of colorblind people can tell the difference between red-green and white.

    They just percieve red-green as the same.

    So they lose the visual cue for front-back under the proposed change.

  • The key detail is that, like with rear brake lights, they extinguish when the foot is removed from the brake pedal. So it's not so much the presence of the brake light, but the presence of an inactive brake light that would, serve as a warning that a car is about to start moving. This would be very helpful to drivers on a road when other drivers are pulling out too early from a side road or driveway. That little bit of extra warning is, in many situations, enough for you to pump the brakes, hit the horn, or both.

    If anything I think they would have to use a green light that turns on when accelerating/not braking. It would be way more dangerous in the future when people are trained with "No green = braking" but older cars don't have the light at all.
    It's important to consider how a transition like this would even work. I personally think this is a little too drastic of a change, and is incompatible with existing vehicles and habits.

  • Cars with lane-keep assist with vibrate the steering wheel and beep at you. It's at least something but I think most people turn it off if it gets annoying

    Anyone complaining about lane keep not letting them change lanes or make turns is telling on themselves

  • I don't think they illuminate the brake lights, hence my comment. Technology connections has talked about this, although IDK which video it was.

    I was curious if anyone had actually tested it or not, and I found the video above where they get right into it, without any intros or family history or begging to like & subscribe... just a short video where they test it and find that, YES!, the brake lights do come on when you use the steering wheel paddle brake or when you're in L gear and take your foot off the accelerator.

  • This is actually insane. Their brakes must wear out so fast.

    The brakes aren’t engaged? The light turns on before there’s pressure on the brake. They probably don’t even know their lights are on since they aren’t decelerating.

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    The title at least dont say anything new AFAIK. Because you could already download from external sources but those apps still needed to be signed by apple. But maybe they changed?
  • How a Spyware App Compromised Assad’s Army

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    I guess that's why you pay your soldiers. In the early summer of 2024, months before the opposition launched Operation Deterrence of Aggression, a mobile application began circulating among a group of Syrian army officers. It carried an innocuous name: STFD-686, a string of letters standing for Syria Trust for Development. ... The STFD-686 app operated with disarming simplicity. It offered the promise of financial aid, requiring only that the victim fill out a few personal details. It asked innocent questions: “What kind of assistance are you expecting?” and “Tell us more about your financial situation.” ... Determining officers’ ranks made it possible for the app’s operators to identify those in sensitive positions, such as battalion commanders and communications officers, while knowing their exact place of service allowed for the construction of live maps of force deployments. It gave the operators behind the app and the website the ability to chart both strongholds and gaps in the Syrian army’s defensive lines. The most crucial point was the combination of the two pieces of information: Disclosing that “officer X” was stationed at “location Y” was tantamount to handing the enemy the army’s entire operating manual, especially on fluid fronts like those in Idlib and Sweida.
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    I thought we were going to get our share of the damages
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    Time to start chopping down flock cameras.
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    Niemand hat geantwortet
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    douglasg14b@lemmy.worldD
    Did I say that it did? No? Then why the rhetorical question for something that I never stated? Now that we're past that, I'm not sure if I think it's okay, but I at least recognize that it's normalized within society. And has been for like 70+ years now. The problem happens with how the data is used, and particularly abused. If you walk into my store, you expect that I am monitoring you. You expect that you are on camera and that your shopping patterns, like all foot traffic, are probably being analyzed and aggregated. What you buy is tracked, at least in aggregate, by default really, that's just volume tracking and prediction. Suffice to say that broad customer behavior analysis has been a thing for a couple generations now, at least. When you go to a website, why would you think that it is not keeping track of where you go and what you click on in the same manner? Now that I've stated that I do want to say that the real problems that we experience come in with how this data is misused out of what it's scope should be. And that we should have strong regulatory agencies forcing compliance of how this data is used and enforcing the right to privacy for people that want it removed.
  • Small (web) is beautiful

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    fredselfish@lemmy.worldF
    Will do thank you.
  • Mazda DMCA takedown of Open Source Home Assistant App

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    Soon this all will be much easier. From 12 of September we’re going into a new world of EU Data Act that forces all companies to allow third parties to communicate with iot devices. Which a car is. So soon Mazda will need to provide those APIs in an official way.