Brake lights at traffic lights

[ThrustSSC]

If car lurches forward, then person you hit from behind claims on you, you claim on person who rear ended you. etc etc.

So you take full force, or spread the blame. Tough one, no right answer.

Sorry, but not true. If you stop and then get rammed into the car in front of you, the driver behind you takes the full financial hit.

If you hit the car in front, and immediately get rear-ended because you stopped so suddenly, you take the hit for both.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

I'm not sure about that last scenario - it's always the fault of the driver of the moving car - they failed to leave enough of a gap to be able to stop. The reason the car in front stopped is irrelevant.

 

[jdeacon]

+1 for wondering how to do this (and not having found a solution).
I too was always taught to put the handbrake on and let off the foot brake once someone had stopped behind you, especially at night and in the wet.

 

[MarkJ]

When I had a manual car I always used the parking brake when stopped for more than a few seconds and it annoyed me when cars in front didn't do the same. Once I had an automatic I realised that avoiding keeping the brake lights on was a pain in the ass, which is why it was so common, and was going to become more common. So go with the flow!

 

[kuruma]

I wasn't even aware this was something that people did -- I don't think it needs to be worried about? I would be fascinated to know this is something that people are passionate about.

you've obviously never lived and driven in a country where every car is automatic. I did for 6 years and drove for work and it was a nightmare on long drives home tired at night on roads with traffic lights every block. I eventually rigged up a cloth that I'd flip down from my sun visor so that I could shield my eyes from constantly applied brake lights while stationary.

I wish Hold didn't force the brake lights on continuously. As it's a form of hand brake, I don't understand why Tesla has made this a 'feature'. It should be an option as the logical result of not having your foot on the brake pedal is no brake lights.

 

[rotor2k]

you've obviously never lived and driven in a country where every car is automatic. I did for 6 years and drove for work and it was a nightmare on long drives home tired at night on roads with traffic lights every block. I eventually rigged up a cloth that I'd flip down from my sun visor so that I could shield my eyes from constantly applied brake lights while stationary.

I wish Hold didn't force the brake lights on continuously. As it's a form of hand brake, I don't understand why Tesla has made this a 'feature'. It should be an option as the logical result of not having your foot on the brake pedal is no brake lights.

Surely more than half the cars in the U.K. are automatic?!

 

[davidmc]

Slightly different situation with break lights:

Not sure if anyone else has noticed but when in stop/start and slow moving traffic with TACC/AP on, the break lights stay on even when moving slowly (1-5mph). This may confuse the person behind you and they may not know if you are slowing/stopping.

 

[nightowl]

You'd think with all the cameras, sensors and autopilot stuff these cars have, it ought to be relatively trivial to apply logic such as this when the car has come to a complete stop and is still in Drive:

If there is a vehicle stopped behind or the road behind is clear: Turn the brake lights off
If there is a vehicle approaching behind: Turn the brake lights on until the car behind has stopped

 

[Bernard_S]

Does the M3 actually have a mechanical handbrake as such ? ie a seperate caliper on the rear brakes. You certainly can't hear an actuator operating like you can on SWMBO's BMW hybrid. All you hear is very faint click coming from the drivers footwell area like a solenoid valve opening when the brakes on light symbol comes up the display. Maybe it just pressurises the rear brake circuit from the pump.

Anybody know how it works? Getting rid of the brake lights whilst stationary would certainly be far less irritating to drivers behind, particularly at night.

As regards automatics, they are far less common in Europe than in the US where it's probably 99% auto's

 

[Adopado]

Surely more than half the cars in the U.K. are automatic?!

Really? I know things have been moving towards more automatics in recent years but the proportion of small cars is still high and very few of those are automatics. I read that about 40% of new cars are automatic in the UK ... and that's much higher than it ever was in the past. I'd be surprised if there are more than 15% automatic overall on the road presently.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Nothing worse being dazzled by the high level brake light of the stationary car in front on a dark wet evening.[/QUOTE
Hmmm, I never even thought this to be a problem as it has not occurred to me that I was annoyed by the brake lights of a car in front. Nice that people are considerate, but if I am behind you, I prefer to see your brake lights Maybe I just don't get that close to the car in front of me.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

Does the M3 actually have a mechanical handbrake as such ? ie a seperate caliper on the rear brakes. You certainly can't hear an actuator operating like you can on SWMBO's BMW hybrid. All you hear is very faint click coming from the drivers footwell area like a solenoid valve opening when the brakes on light symbol comes up the display. Maybe it just pressurises the rear brake circuit from the pump.

Anybody know how it works? Getting rid of the brake lights whilst stationary would certainly be far less irritating to drivers behind, particularly at night.

There are effectively 3 ways the Model 3 holds itself stationary.

1. Using the brakebooster to apply the hydraulic brakes in hold mode (this is when you hear the click and feel the brake pedal move down very slightly)

2. Using the electrically operated parking brake when in Park (you'll hear the motor whirring at the rear when this happens)

3. Using the motor in hold mode. You can actually stop the car from moving by applying a small amount of input to the accelerator pedal, but you won't be able to do this on any sort of decline and even when the car is stationary and not in Hold mode, the brake light can come on, so this isn't really an effective way unless you've stopped on an incline, when you can effectively 'hold' the car on the motor.

I don't like doing it to cars behind either, but there isn't a simple answer with the Model 3 which will please everyone. I just try and judge it so I'm rolling very slowly as much of the time as possible to shorten the time the car is actually stationary.