• ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
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    6 months ago

    Like someone said in the hnews comments, this might work for auto transmission but with manual gearing you’ve got people using engine braking on hills.

    Also like stated in the article the colouring is going to be an issue and trying to see some green lights whilst the headlights are on (full beam fog lights perhaps too?) doesn’t seem practicable to me.

    • randy@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      Automatics also allow for engine braking. From a quick search, it sounds like a toss-up as to whether that triggers brake lights. Regardless, the article mentions the benefit is not only from cars slowing down, but also from indicating that a car is preparing to stop or “that a stationary vehicle might initiate movement”. Neither of those can be done by an engine brake, so front brake lights would still have a benefit even with a driver that likes engine braking.

    • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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      6 months ago

      Last I heard something like 98% of new cars/trucks sold in America have automatic.

    • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      with computers these days an acceleration based system should be achievable for all types of cars. hybrid/electric cars already do it with regen braking.

      • Cort@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        hybrid/electric cars already do it with regen braking.

        Not all of them. It is becoming more common, but for a while Hyundai and Kia didn’t do this, and I know my older Ford doesn’t.

        Probably just in the US, since brake lights are only required when pressing the brake pedal. Mercedes illuminates them but then turns the brake lights off once the vehicle comes to a stop using regen.

      • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
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        6 months ago

        Possibly, and I’d be interested in some sort of 360° LED on top of a vehicle to indicate to pedestrians and other drivers alike of its (de)acceleration.

        But jamming some non standard colours in what is a long term understanding on the front of a vehicle I can’t really get with and would like to see the impact to people with partial / colour blindness with using such a system.

        Like, does the average pedestrian know what the green and red lights mean on an aircraft? I bet not.

        • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          fair point about color blindness, but surely there is some 4th color that would work well with red/amber/white.

        • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Well you should educate yourself on the rules of the method of travel no matter.

          If you were to go up in the air and you didn’t educate yourself on what the lights mean, you’re going to ruin everyone else’s day in your incredibly dangerous ignorance.

          You don’t take a paddle boat onto the water without understanding some basic principles of water navigation… why would roads in this specific cause be any different? We already do with most land methods, this one is gonna be hinge? Nah. Ignorance isn’t an excuse.

          • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
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            6 months ago

            I have, and that’s my point.

            I’m a lowly drone pilot that isn’t really made to understand what those lights mean but did out of my sheer curiosity.

            But the average pedestrian is going to take some, teaching?

  • Exulion@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    They would probably just use the existing amber lights so noone would know if you were turning or not. I’m not bitter.

  • AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Once we have proper self driving cars none of these recent “innovations” like that or the speed limiting would matter.

    Ideally self driving cars would also be without a steering wheel and just be half width with a single seat or two seats facing each other to reduce energy requirements. You could just develop this with a manhattan style project and test it in a single city banning all other private cars except delivery vehicles.

    • Grostleton@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Might as well ignore all attainable goals that would benefit society in the short term in favor of sci-fi pipe dreams that are perpetually delayed as we endlessly run into stumbling blocks.

      Forget solar/wind/geothermal/etc. development as well, fusion power could happen any day now so why bother with any of that comparatively inefficient junk?

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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      6 months ago

      Yeah my electric 208 is kinda like that (if I remember the video well, watched it a while ago) but since it’s Europe there actually is a regulation about how much a car can decelerate before break lights come on, so instead of making the system turn the lights on they throttle how much it can decelerate for recharge and still makes you use the break to use full regen (and eventually the actual brakes, of course). So it’s not a real “one pedal driving”.

        • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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          6 months ago

          Nah not at all tbh, you can get very smooth deceleration with it and it doesn’t feel floaty or whatever, it does take a tiny adjustment to how you drive, you don’t coast anymore but rather you can finely control your deceleration by how much you lift the accelerator, it’s quite nice to be honest I always drive it in that mode (even if it’s not real one pedal).

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        6 months ago

        I feel like if your car is doing anything to actively slow itself down (as in apart from just cruising) it should turn the brake lights on.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    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.

    • Almacca@aussie.zone
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      6 months ago

      Some of the new Kias have the rear indicators in the bumper. Why are they hiding them?

      • rollerbang@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

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

        • njordomir@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Can we do this in the same bill as the popup spikes that take out your tires if you stop across the crosswalk? The guided RPGs replacing red light cams can wait a little longer.

        • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Couldn’t we just use the point system from 5th element? The car noticed you did something illegal and dedicated from your point pool.

        • xthexder@l.sw0.com
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          6 months ago

          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

          • Rexios@lemmy.zip
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            6 months ago

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

            • xthexder@l.sw0.com
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              6 months ago

              There are a couple situations where it’s annoying and I turn it off. My truck has the “steer back into lane” style assist, but it’s tried to push me off the road before while I was towing a trailer on some narrow 1-lane roads. Some of the corners it’s just not possible to get around without touching the center line.

              The vast majority of the time it stays on though and is quite helpful.

    • moakley@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      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.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      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.

        • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Dang it, sometimes I just type stuff and dont think about what I typed (the irony of what I was writing out)

      • Pika@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        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

        • reattach@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          The thing is, you want the turn signal to turn on before the start of the turn, so other drivers, pedestrians, cyclists can react.

          • brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            6 months ago

            I cannot stand how in some vehicles if I turn on the signal to indicate I am planning to change lanes, it will beep at me that there is a car there. I’m indicating I plan on it. Not that I’m turning the wheel right this second. I know there is a car to my side, I’m going to change lanes behind it, but am indicating mostly to the car behind them.

          • Pika@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            agreed, I don’t think the blinker switch should be removed, but a late indicator is better than no indicator.

    • tiramichu@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      The classic example we already have of this is when you are stopped at a side road about to enter the main road, and a car coming towards you on the main road signals to turn in.

      Many people take the fact the other car has their turn signal on as a guarantee that it’s safe to emerge, but any good driving instructor will tell you to wait until the car actually begins to turn before you yourself emerge.

      They had their signal on but that doesn’t mean they’re actually going to DO what the signal said they would.

      Same with the front brake light. It would be like “Well their front brake light came on, so I assumed it was safe to step into the crosswalk” NO. They could have just tapped the brake a second, doesn’t mean they saw you, or they will actually stop.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Struggled with this for a second, then I figured it out…

    The brake light coming ON isn’t the important part, like the rear brake lights… it’s the brake lights turning OFF that’s important in the front.

    So maybe, now hear me out, MAYBE we need to invert that. Have front brake lights that are on ALL the time, and pressing the brake turns them off to indicate safety?

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    This will lead to people braking momentarily to slow down, and others turning in front of slowing down traffic.

    Little benefit, but the cost of adding front brake lights would be passed on to the car buyers.

  • vapeloki@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    First of all, this would be illegal in many countries.

    Second of all: we can differentiate cars by: has red lights, back.

    If we lose this option we can no longer differentiate easily if there is a car coming towards us or driving away from us.

      • gjoel@programming.dev
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        6 months ago

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

        • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          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.

          • TheRealKuni@midwest.social
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            6 months ago

            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.

            • xthexder@l.sw0.com
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              6 months ago

              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.

            • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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              6 months ago

              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.

          • FundMECFS@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            6 months ago

            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.

            • hamsterkill@lemmy.sdf.org
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              6 months ago

              Colorblind person here. If we’re talking about limited visibility differentiation of front and back, the color of light is way less noticeable than whether we’re looking at headlights or not (based on intensity). There would be no issue telling whether we’re looking at a front brake light or a back brake light so long as the front brake light has headlights around it.

  • x00z@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Would speed up crosswalks a lot too. Whenever I cross a crosswalk with my dog I don’t want to risk me misjudging the braking of cars so I tend to really wait until I’m sure they’re stopping.

  • FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I read the article and the next one comes up: “Mouse Sperm Structure Unveils Asthenozoospermia Mechanisms” and my co-worker was like wtf are you reading.