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Sat Aug 14, 2010 5:09 am

Actually, I think the person behind me is often more likely to be too distracted by talking on their phone or texting to see any brake lights in time. :roll:

Sat Aug 14, 2010 5:39 am

All vehicles should have a long, sharp pole at the height of the occupants heads protruding from the rear of every vehicle. People will start paying a lot more attention to what is in front of them!

I was going to put a third brake light in the top of the rear window. In fact I may have actually done this at some point... or maybe it was the beetle.
Is it a decent place to put it?
I don't have to worry about special wiring thankfully because like a lot of the world we have separate indicator and brake lights.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:21 pm

Well, it's not "high" on a bus, but it is at about the same height as the 3rd brake lights on other vehicles. Few drivers are going to be looking through the window of a bus to see the brake lights ahead unless they are driving similarly tall vehicles.

I think that third brakes lights were found to be effective when they were being studied because of their novelty. People tend to notice and pay attention to things that are different. These days, now that most cars have a 3rd brake light, I think that similar studies would not show such a high level of effectiveness. 3rd brake lights do have the advantage that they cannot be mistaken for tail lights.

Anything you can do to increase the brightness or contrast of the brake lights will be beneficial. Adding another light is good, flashing is good, etc. For early buses, the back-up lights could be modified with red LEDs to yield extra brake/turn lights and maintain stock appearance.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:57 pm

A smart driver will be able to see the third brake light of vehicles several cars ahead, through the windows, and be warned that they should slow down.

A third brake light would also be far more visible to the driver of the tall suv's that are constantly riding my ass.

It is surprising how many people are only within the margins of safety by predicting what you will do. When something other than that happens is when it gets ugly, and so...

-It gives them a bit of a rile when I slow way down suddenly for no apparent reason. I have a guideline where I won't deal with it if their headlights can't be seen through my rear window. It's not safe. I watch them in the rear view all 'wtf'.

It is within my legal right to stop completely in the roadway if there is danger. I don't think most are aware of this.

More warning is definitely a good thing; these people are next to sleeping on the road today.

To go on... I was behind a cadillac whose array of led brake lights were so bright I had to shield my eyes. I'd like something like that, but subtle when it's not lit, and I'd be able to vary the brightness. The bmw ones are cool where there are 2 levels of brake for how hard you are pressing down, but a pot would be good too to adjust for when you need it. I need that and a train horn in front.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:02 pm

nathansnathan wrote: A smart driver...
Where you going to find one of those? :lol:

I noticed an improvement in drivers not stopping short behind me when I put the extra light on, an even more when I rewired my brake lights through a limit swich and relay to come on at a tap of the pedal, rather than after brake pressure builds.

I left the pressure factory master cylinder switches alone. Just bypass them a little early now.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:03 pm

RatCamper wrote: like a lot of the world late model Bays separate indicator and brake lights.

Fixed it for you :P

Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:21 pm

Hippie wrote: I noticed an improvement in drivers not stopping short behind me when I put the extra light on, an even more when I rewired my brake lights through a limit swich and relay to come on at a tap of the pedal, rather than after brake pressure builds.

I left the pressure factory master cylinder switches alone. Just bypass them a little early now.

I'm gonna have to look in to rigging the limit switch thing. That's always been a bit of an issues with me about the stock, how far down you have to be to get brake lights.

I guess I'd consider myself to be the smart driver. With the great view the bus gives of the cars ahead, all irratic on the gas and brake, you just give it as much as the average movement of the 6 or 7 cars in front of you. Once you get into 'closed loop' with this system, you can determine just how much gas to give it, factoring in for the constant 3rd brake lights going on. - Each bit you let off. I'm always observing the almost harmonic movents, people stopping short just as the car ahead takes off. I rarely even use my brakes as I'm going the right speed. All this calculation is only so critical because of the gap that must be maintained to prevent some ass from side swiping me in his toyota corolla S.

I'm happy to say that I'll be vacationing north of this den of evil for the coming week. :) It's a few steps more civilized in the north.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:50 pm

I just read the last few pages of this thread. It has some good ideas and and a few innovative ways of mounting a third brake light.

While I think a third light is more visible when stopping, the bastards that tailgated me all day and night in Portland yesterday would not have been able to avoid a collision in an emergency stop situation if the entire rear of the bus flashed red.

Don't think I'll be endeavoring to attach a third light anytime soon.

RB

Sat Aug 14, 2010 3:40 pm

Pity the only enforcement the cops are interested in is speeding, when tailgating causes more wrecks.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 3:48 pm

My beetle used to run rich. never gave me issues. hell of a combination with the karge diameter glasspak though. If someone was riding my ass i could finagle the throttle and get it to shoot a nice blue flame. that usually got tailgaters to back up. more than once I gave the handbrake a tweak too, so they had no brakelights to rely on. Just momentary so they didn't give it a kiss but enough to share the shit out of them. i wonder if they went on to ride another ass or learned their lesson.

in my DD which is reasonably low slung, I end up with people driving so close i can't see their headlights, which I figure puts them <2m away from the back of my car. People like this are dangerous. I actually had one person's radiator make sweet love to my towbar at an intersection once. What a mess.

3rd brakelights are mostly of use to people driving too close as it is who don't have time to react anyway. The extra visibility is a plus though.
They have stopped me running up the back of cars stopped dead on the road in the fog in the past. It's the first thing that cuts through the fog.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 3:53 pm

I think the folks reading this subject are pretty observant- considering that every comment posted here sounds like something I have seen, also.
I also wired a momentary pushbutton on my brake light circuit, mounted under the steering column- tailgaters get the treatment while I continue to cruise at "top" speed- it really works. Most of the time- they actually slow down a bit- but then some just get more pissed off. Who cares. I drive defensively at all times. Some others just don't get it.......... :?

Sat Aug 14, 2010 3:59 pm

greenbus pilot wrote: I also wired a momentary pushbutton on my brake light circuit, mounted under the steering column-
That's cool.
Never thought of the brake light switch.

I carry a 250K candlepower spotlight in my truck.
(And before someone corrects me on the legality issues or instigation of road rage by using it....remember - I don't care.)

Sat Aug 14, 2010 8:59 pm

Just got a pair of led's and wired it up now they see me!!!!

Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:03 pm

Kind of hard to tell any difference from the photographs if the camera automatically adjusts the exposure for the available light. The flash reflection from the license plate is brighter than the brake lights.

Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:54 am

I don't have a bus, but I am following this post as I used this post to help me decide to put one on my bug. Several times I would hear the screech of brakes behind me as I would either slow or stop for traffic. I installed this LED unit that pulses a bit before it glows solid

My wife says that she can see me at least a block ahead now because of the flashing. And I don't hear the screeches anymore.

But of course, those of us in this forum, we aren't the ones needing the extra warning are we? :D

I'm even consdering trying to find some European bug tail lights with the amber turn signals so as to alert those behind me that I am turning and just might slow a bit to allow some space between us.

I hate when those in the SUV's tailgate so close you can see the indivdual fins of their radiator in your mirror! I have to slow way down to turn into my tight driveway and the speed limit is only 30MPH, but those behind me make me wonder if I am reading the sign wrong and it really says 60?