Adding brake lights to the front of cars could improve safety, traffic experts say
Fitting brake lights to the front of cars could reduce the number of accident, a study says. Researchers at TU Graz found a front brake light could cut crashes by up to 17 percent. Having a visual signal on the front of a car reduces the reaction time of other road users.
It’s been almost 40 years since America made a third, high-level brake light compulsory, a change that’s prevented thousands of crashes and doubtless saved more than a few lives, too. But now researchers say accident rates could be cut even further by doing something much crazier. They want to put stoplights on the front. Related: Mercedes Cars Will Use Turquoise Lights When Driving Autonomously Front-mounted brake lights have been suggested before, the theory being that they provide clear signalling of an approaching car’s actions to other road users. That could reduce the chances of drivers pulling out of intersections from misreading an oncoming driver’s intentions. New Data Suggests Real Benefits Now a team at the Institute of Vehicle Safety at TU Graz, Austria, says it has the data to prove that theory. It analyzed 200 real-life accidents, reconstructing them as computer simulations, and assigned a faster reaction time to drivers that would have been able to see a front brake light if one had been fitted. The analysis revealed that adding a front-facing brake light could have reduced the number of collisions by anywhere from 7.5 to 17 percent, depending on how quickly drivers responded in each simulated scenario. And though an extra light couldn’t prevent all of the crashes, in up to a quarter of the scenarios it brought impact speeds down, helping to reduce the number and severity of the hypothetical injuries. However, in around a third of the reconstructed crashes researchers found that drivers wouldn’t have been able to see a front-mounted brake light, and as a result are suggesting that brake lights should also be incorporated into the side of new vehicles. Unlike some other safety advances - think America’s 1970s diving board bumpers, or early, ugly airbags - fitting front and side brake lights wouldn’t pose much of a challenge for automakers, and needn’t impact aesthetics, either. But it could make a big difference to safety. Real-World Testing Shows Promise The Graz researchers reference an earlier real life, on-the-road study carried in Slovakia that didn’t offer any data about crash reduction, but does prove that drivers found the tech both useful and and easy to understand. A total of 3,072 cars were fitted with front brake lights for between six and 11 months, the majority of canvassed drivers reporting positive experiences at the end of the test and 75 percent supporting the introduction of front lights on new cars. So, should front and side brake lights become the next evolution in vehicle safety? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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