I think perhaps the biggest thing the internet has done for human society is that is has made everyone in the world into roommates. We’re now in a position where we can know all sorts of absurd details and opinions about people we’ve never met, and be baffled by these opinions from half a world away. Everyone on Earth has the potential to be a weird, rarely seen roommate now, casually dropping strange statements and confusing opinions that make us all wonder, with surprising intensity, just what is the deal with that weirdo? A bit of this magic happened just the other day, when, unbidden, someone on the Internet tweeted angrily about brake lights in a way that puzzled much of the driving world. Let’s talk about this.
Here’s the tweet in question, which has been making the rounds on car twitter and has come to me from a number of sources:
Hat-trick tonight. Took every bone in my body to not put main beams on when we got going.#blw pic.twitter.com/LuBYdtiEZB
— Kitch???? (@UPnDOWNvids) March 21, 2023
Now, if you’re like most of us, you’re probably looking at that picture with confusion. What, exactly, is wrong here? People are stopped at a red light. That’s how that’s supposed to work, isn’t it? The guy said something about a “hat-trick” which is sports-talk for three goals or related triumphs, so that must mean the three people stopped there. So why did it take “every bone in [his] body to not put main beams on” to presumably retaliate against those three drivers? What did they do?
Well, here’s their crime: they have their feet on their brake pedals while stopped.
The reason the tweeter feels this is bad is because they find the glow of the brake lights unpleasant or distracting, it seems. And, okay, I guess some brake lights can be bright, but who doesn’t keep their feet on the brake when stopped at a light? I can’t ever recall thinking of a time I’ve been dazzled by brake lights – they’re not high beams, after all – but I’m sure it’s possible, but at the same time, there are benefits to it, too.
In an automatic, do you really need to be shifting from D to P every time you come to a traffic light? That seems ridiculous, and potentially annoying to other drivers behind you, who would probably rather you actually start moving right when the light turns green instead of waiting for you to shift back into gear, a process that will, assuming the standard PRNDL layout, flash your reverse lights at the people behind you, which is more likely to cause annoyance than the brake lights that indicate you understand how traffic lights work.
In a manual, I guess you could pull your parking brake, but, again, why? You’re stopped. That’s an ideal time to be illuminating the lights that warn people behind you you’re not moving, because you’re not, and you’re in an active traffic lane, so let people know that!
I’m really baffled by this one. If you can’t deal with an occasional bright light, maybe night driving isn’t your thing? Roads at night are positively full of bright lights: the traffic lights themselves, street lights, advertising signage, flashing yellow construction warning lamps, highly energetic fireflies, headlights of oncoming cars, you name it.
This just seems such a strange thing to get worked up about, right? It’s not just me? This is from the UK, so perhaps it’s more of a thing there. In fact, it is mentioned in the UK Highway code:
“In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.”
Here’s a post from “The Official Highway Code,” which “applies to England, Scotland and Wales”:
Reactions to that post are mixed:
Huh. Okay. What’s odd about this is that I’m all but certain this code was written in a pre-LED era where brake lights were feeble 12V (or even 6V) bulbs behind likely grimy red plastic, so the idea of being dazzled by the brake lights of a Ford Cortina or an Riley Elf seems a little far fetched to me, but who knows. These same rules also suggest not using headlights at all on roads with street lighting:
-
“use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified”
So, you know, maybe there’s a greater fear of light-dazzling in the UK than I realized. Like, a pathological fear.
But this Reddit thread implies that Australia and New Zealand have similar things in their drivers’ codes. (I haven’t been able to confirm). It’s all a bit bizarre.
Am I out of line, here? I’ve never driven with anyone who takes their car out of gear and puts it in park or pulls the handbrake at stoplights. Ever. I mean, you usually have no idea how long the light will be? You may just be there like 11 seconds! I’m sure on flat roads I’ve sometimes taken my foot off the brake, but unless I’m feeling really lazy or it’s an absurdly long light, I’ll keep it in gear and the clutch down.
Is the tweeter/UK Highway code right about this? Is everyone I know doing it wrong? Is this man the lone voice of reason in a cruel, red-glowing world? Is this a UK thing? Do any of you agree with this?
Let’s discuss this. I’ll be amazed if there’s a decent number of people for whom this makes sense, but you know, I’m okay with being amazed.
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The original Tweeter has no problem with the brake light glare (the red lights are even brighter). He read some outdated traffic rule and wants to show everyone his way is “right”.
Shout out to Jason taking the effort to mock up the Corrado with a British yellow rear registration plate.
But to be pedantic, 1983-2001 GB registration plates are formatted letter-number-number-number [space] letter-letter-letter. The last two letters refer to a geographical region.
And to be really pedantic, a D-reg plate dates from between the 1st of August 1986 and the 31st of July 1987. The first Corrados weren’t registered in the UK until the end of 1988. So the earliest registration the car could have is F123 ABC (where F refers to August 1988 – July 1989 and BC refers to Leicester).
I will give Jason the benefit of the doubt, and assume that the brake lights of the Corrado in question blinded Jason while he was mocking up the image in Illustrator.
This is an amazing level of pedantry and I commend you for it.
Why would I *EVER* want to increase my chance of being rearended?
All my cars are manual. Sometimes I do take the car out of gear and apply the handbrake – but even then I’m sure to keep a foot on the brake to keep my brake lights on.
I always have my headlights on in the dark for the same reason – so oncoming cars can see me. My lights are not stupid extra bright nonsense and are aimed properly to not blind oncoming drivers.
The only thing I can think of to justify the headlight thing would be lights shining into people’s homes. I guess a low-speed well-lit street in the UK could have very closely-spaced dwellings not far from the roadway.
This runs completely counter to what I was taught, which is that you should keep your foot firmly planted on the brake pedal so that if some fool rear-ends you, there is less chance that you’ll be pushed into the next car, or into the intersection, or into a crossing pedestrian.
“…unless I’m feeling really lazy or it’s an absurdly long light, I’ll keep it in gear and the clutch down.”
If it’s an exceptionally long light it’s probably better to take it out of gear, because it will lessen wear on your throwout bearing.
“On flat ground, and only with cars already stopped behind me, I will take my foot off the brake in a manual car.”
As V10omous said, this is what I do. As long as the car isn’t rolling backward, and I’ve got a “blocker” behind me who already knows I’m stopped, there’s no reason to be on the brake in a manual car. If it’s going to be a while I take it out of gear and let the throwout bearing rest.
Who stops for intersections?
That law is stupid as hell. I guess it looks like a wave of brake lights turning off as the last person in line finally gets the person behind him to stop so that now second to last person can apply his handbrake. Then the reverse wave as the first person now has to apply brake, shift into gear then apply throttle. To me as an American, this is too much time wasted especially on short light cycles with long lines of traffic. You could sit through 3-4 cycles before getting through the flipping intersection. I already sit through multiple light cycles on some streets in PHL with no one applying a handbrake at the light.
When I was a kid and standards were more common I clearly remember people shifting to neutral and pulling the handbrake. This was in Canada so maybe it’s a Commonwealth thing?
I always figured it was so you could work the clutch and gas at the same time while you let the brake out.
But shifting an automatic to Park just seems asinine. And what if someone is coming up hot behind you? No chance to scooch forward and avoid the collision…
I put the parking brake on in my C8 at long lights, so I don’t have to keep my foot on the brake pedal. The brake automatically releases when I put my foot on the gas and start to move! I put the parking brake on on my Wrangler Unlimited auto at long lights too! I do keep it in drive though!.
The closest I’ve heard of this is people saying you should always be “in gear” at a red light for manual transmissions so in case you’re rear ended your car will stall and not roll out into the intersection.
Also, on most cars I’ve had the parking brake will illuminate the brake lights anyway!
I’ve heard the opposite argument that sitting at a red light with the car in gear puts unnecessary wear and tear on the throwout bearing. I suspect in the end that neither really matter that much.
This is all bizarre. When I’m stopped, I want that to be perfectly clear. My Honda has a brake hold feature which I keep on all the time, and I’m glad that when it’s on, the brake lights are on. Before I had that feature, I kept my foot on the brake, and never considered doing otherwise.
I was emotionally scarred by the brake hold on my wife’s Honda. I rarely drive her car, but I noticed a few weeks ago it had turned yellow from the pollen. I thought it would be nice to take it to the car wash for her. As I was shifting into neutral to let the car wash’s conveyor belt take over, I realized the brake hold was engaged. I managed to quickly disengage it before the attendant started up the conveyor, but it was a good reminder to never do anything nice for anyone.
no good deed goes in-punished
Un-punshed
un-punished.
damn thumbs not responding to helm
Take your time
I wouldn’t have thought of that. I use it because it’s the best hill-start assist I’ve ever had.
I drive a standard, I live on an exceptionally flat section of the globe, I rarely keep my foot on the brake pedal at lights. I don’t pull the parking brake though, I just pop the shifter in Neutral and take both feet off the pedals and sit there not rolling forwards or backwards. I do typically keep an eye on the cross-traffic lights though so I can pop back into 1st gear before the light turns green but if I miss it doesn’t take that much time. Same on the bike, pop it in neutral and put both feet down and hands in my lap.
In automatic cars I’ll occasionally pop it into Neutral as well but never all the way to Park, who has that sort of time?
I’m not doing this out of any sort of consideration of bedazzling the drivers behind me with my brake lights so much as my feet and hands are just lazy. If I’m the first one at a red light though and traffic is still rolling up behind me I’ll keep the brake lights illuminated until at least 1 driver behind me comes to a stop, I’m not a fool.
The problem lies in traffic-code writers’ insistence that there necessarily has to be one, and only one, “right” way to do everything.
On flat ground, and only with cars already stopped behind me, I will take my foot off the brake in a manual car.
Setting the parking brake seems ridiculous though.
He’s clearly a feeble eyed bumblefuck because nobody, I repeat nobody in the UK is putting their car in neutral and the handbrake on sitting at a red traffic light. The only time you would do this would be a) on your driving test and b) if it’s clear you’re stuck stationary in traffic and are not going anywhere in the immediate future (so every day on the M25 in other words).
Now if it had been rear fog lights illuminated, he might have a point because they are exceptionally bright. There’s a special circle of hell reserved for people who turn those on in the rain.
I’m going to hell. I turn mine on on occasion in the rain. I’m sure it confuses the shit out of lots of people especially where it’s not so common here. Why is that dude driving with brake lights on but they are down in the bumper? (Audi Q3)
Correct use of the fog light in the UK is to turn them on only if it’s actually foggy. Then you leave them on for the next three weeks because it’s only a yellow warning lamp and you can’t remember where the switch is.
For front fog lights the rule is different: turn them on if one of your headlights is out, and keep it like that until you fail your MOT test. Bonus points if your fog light opposite the burnt-out headlight is also out.
I’ve not found front fog lights to be helpful on any car that doesn’t have pop-up headlights. So these days I’m pretty sure they are only fitted for people who can’t fix headlights.
Yeah, rear fogs are a magnitude brighter than brake lights (I’m sure Torch knows the wattage) and actually are dazzling in non-fog situations.
Brake and fog lights are both 21W bulbs. Or were back before everything became LEDs.
However the reflectors and lenses can be different. I’ve seen fog and brake versions of the same lamp and the brake reflectors weren’t as polished as the fog reflectors.
100% agree with this, Adrian. The only time I’ve ever done this was when I took my UK driving test (which I was required to do after living in the UK for 12 months, even though I’d had a US license for 10 years at that point). And that UK test was in 2006, so before the proliferation of LED lighting.
I’m that nobody.
Adrian, come to Bristol. We have so many hills, that you’ll be doing a hill start at practically every other junction, and your handbrake will get a big workout 😉
I’d never heard the “turn off your brakelights” explanation. My driving instructor (in the UK) explained it to me that if someone drove into the back of your car, and you had your foot on the brake, your foot might slip off and you’d end up running into the car in front. With a handbrake, the brake would stay on (although only the rear brakes I suppose).
When I was a kid and felt I had to drive at top speed everywhere, I’d always use the handbrake at junctions, because I could let off the brake with my hand, and mash the accelerator and lift the clutch with my feet, rather than wasting all that time, taking my foot off the brake, and moving it over to the throttle.
The main reason I always use the handbrake though, is that there’s no chance of the car rolling backwards when I let off the brake, and there’s a lot of hills in my town.
I had a friend from England who did this, and she told me she was taught to do it for the same reason you gave. But I’ve never met anyone else who did, so this is all very interesting.
Hey, when you win two world wars, you get to keep your foot on the brake at stop lights.
sorry, thems the rules.
What happens when you lose to the Viet Cong and the Taliban?
It was a Tie!!!
https://youtu.be/_X6QqZF3J14
Keeping your foot on the brakes might be why you joined those two world wars late.
Well done. You made my smile wryly
Oh snap
If I’m in traffic that I know is going to be stopped for a while (a regular occurrence on my old commute; I had to drive through a tunnel that would sometimes close for 10-20 minutes at a time, longer if there was a wreck), I’ll do the parking brake, just to be able to move my right leg around. Otherwise, if I’m stopped, my foot is on the brake peddle.
When I would drive any of my cars with a manual gearbox I would regularly do this. I would come to a stop at a light, put the car in neutral, and set the handbrake. Why, because it made it more comfortable to just sit there without having to press on a pedal. Now, if I already had a car behind me, no issues, but I always kept my eye on the rearview mirror to see if one was approaching. If I saw this I would immediately step on the brakes, sometimes even pulsing the pedal, to alert the car that was coming towards me.
Another use for the handbrake I find I do frequently is to slow down without activating the brake lights. Again, why? Say you are approaching a police car along the road, clearly a speed trap situation. Yanking on the handbrake (while holding the button of course) can easily drop your speed quickly and without signaling that you are maybe 5 mph over the limit. I laugh all the time when I see others in front of me slam on their brakes the moment they see the police vehicle sitting there. I think it’s a little stealthy way to slow down instead. Another thing going to way of the dinosaur as traditional handbrake levers are disappearing from newer cars.
Dazzled… by BRAKE LIGHTS?!?
Were these regs written by the same people who demanded cars be preceded by a person on foot waving a red flag, and if a horse got spooked by a car, said car had to be disassembled and hidden in the woods?
They were written by the councilperson that objected to Clarkson’s Farm restaurant expansion because it might interfere with his evening stargazing.
If America’s cars had electronics made by Lucas, we’d probably advise against using lights, too.
You win the Internet today
This Brit cannot stand being dazzled by high level brake lights in stationary traffic and will insist on putting on his manual handbrake as soon as he is sure the car behind is stationary behind him. Electric handbrakes have led to poor discipline!
When I’m in bumper to bumper traffic in my MT car, I don’t use my brake all that much. I just let out the clutch enough to move ahead a car length. Same goes for fast food drive throughs. However in normal driving and at stop lights/signs, I hold my brake down until I’m ready to go.
Some of those LED light arrays, including headlights, brake lights, and running lights, have really bad glare toward drivers at certain levels. I’m not sure if it’s just that I’m in a sedan, or if all drivers experience it, but there is definitely a problem.
That said, shifting into “Park” and putting on your parking brake seems excessive. This should be handled on the car design level, in my opinion.
Seems like unnecessary wear on the parking brake cable or motor. And wouldn’t this cause longer delays to get traffic moving at a light?
I am for regulating brake light brightness though. Some of these new LED brakes are annoying.