I personally think cars should have two brake light switches. one for when you’re pressing the pedal at all, and one for when you’re slamming on the pedal.
that way the people behind you know if you’re just slowing down a little or actually braking.
I try (if I have time myself to do it without hitting someone and am just in front a mess) to “wake people up” a bit by rapidly tapping the brakes before hitting them hard (to hopefully make my brake lights flash).
I feel like I looked into that once upon a time and it was illegal in my state (Ohio).
I have seen something like that though, at times it’s a bit too much IMO. I’ve seen some that trigger for pretty gentle braking so there’s just a strobe light distraction in front of you over relatively minor things.
Most modern cars now put the hazards on automatically when the driver brakes hard.
I don’t know what the system is called but it’s been around on a lot of cars for a while now. Our car does it (2016 Nissan Qashqai) - the hazards came on automatically when I had to brake hard on the motorway, and everyone else’s hazards came on too - it was exactly the reason I knew how I knew I had to instantly brake hard due to all the cars ahead hazard lights coming on with the brake lights.
I know cats that blink the middle light if you brake hard.
EDIT: I’m not fixing that typo
Actually, a least some cars (probably more than you think)/have some sort of “emergency” breaking signal, which often result in the usual breaking signal blinking for a while. You need to seriously slam the brakes to see it though. E.g: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j_osu1WgGMU
There is also a nice technology connection video talking about braking lights for electric cars and in general, which can be dangerous.
I’ve seen some people play with the programming of BMWs. I was really impressed with one I saw that had 3 levels of lighting. It didn’t affect the actual brake lights but instead utilized the rear fog light. Normal braking was just the normal lights. Moderate braking turned on the rear fog lights. But when he slammed the brakes, the rear fogs flashed.
I was also pissed to be in traffic that allowed for all 3 modes in a few miles.
