Tell Me Oppo What You Think

"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo)
05/30/2014 at 10:51 • Filed to: Help Me Oppo...

What do people think of buying a new car with this system pre-installed?

It's a circuit installed to make the rear-center brake light pulse 4 times when the brakes are applied.

http://safetyfirstbrakelight.com/

I would be surprised if this doesn't become a popular or mandated feature soon.

DISCUSSION (15)

thebigbossyboss > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 10:53

Oppose unless speed limiters (ie nothing below 35-40 MPH) is allowed otherwise bumper to bumper traffic is going to hurt my brain.

Tekamul > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 10:54

They're annoying as all hell, and it would negatively effect the chances of any car I was cross shopping.

mazda616 > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 10:54

I followed an Impala with this feature one time and was really confused until I realized it was supposed to be doing that.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 10:55

I've seen this in use on the freeway and I approve of it 100%.

Like other people have mentioned a speed limiter on it would be a good feature.

macanamera > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 10:56

But why? What's the point?

Roadster Man > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 11:01

I don't think it would make any difference in safety, whatsoever.

Additionally, people are trained to respond in a certain way to flashing lights on the road: GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY. What will happen when every car on the road has a flashing red light? Odds are, something like this may contribute to accidents because people won't be getting out of the way of ambulances and firetrucks because they mistakenly think they are just somebody's brake lights.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 11:02

I'm going to be skeptical. As often as light slowdowns are accompanied by several light taps on the brakes, this device might make a hard braking look like a shallow one for a second or two for anyone not 100% paying attention - more than long enough to screw everyone, and the exact opposite of their claims. That is, assuming the pulses aren't very fast, which, with the fact that they're pulsing not actually flashing, is likely.

That isn't to say that a *form* of the idea isn't a good one. A more sensible trick would be intensity-gauged strobing - like you see at some red lights. More than a second of hard braking, and a secondary element would strobe once or twice. That's obviously less innately 50-state legal than what these guys are doing, but what these guys are doing... kind of sucks. I'm also less than certain how well "it pulses, it doesn't flash!" would hold up under challenge.

They're afraid to do anything but fleet sales, can't articulate a lot of technical data I would like to know, misspelled "O'Reilly" as "O'Rielly"... These guys aren't ready for primetime.

I'd expect somebody more with-it to try something like this before too long, but I'm skeptical on adoption. Somebody other than these guys *surely* already looked into this.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > macanamera
05/30/2014 at 11:02

To get other drivers to pay attention and not hit your car.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > thebigbossyboss
05/30/2014 at 11:03

System has a timer so it does not activate within 5 seconds of being used.

Mattbob > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 11:05

I'm not normally one to say this, but it's just another thing that will be expensive to replace, or break and adds cost to the car.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 11:05

Nah. They are annoying as hell, and really don't do much.

Or is that because I bother to pay attention when I drive?

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/30/2014 at 11:08

They hold the patent, so doubtful anyone else will do this.

I have a packet with more info, and I am skeptical of the "dealer" as well.

thebigbossyboss > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 11:11

Yeah but I mean I sat through a 62 km traffic jam the other day. Having this in front of me would have been death. Even if it only went off every 5 seconds.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 11:15

Their patent appears to cover very little: just a proprietary way of pulsing a rear light instead of actually flashing it. Yawn.

Meatcoma > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
05/30/2014 at 11:15

At the same time it could be considered 'distracting'. If this goes off on a car that is 3 lanes to your right and draws your attention long enough for you not to see the guy in front of you slam on his non blinking brakes.