The other day I was noticing that some vehicles now have in addition to the normal brake lights on the back, that it had a red flashing stop light.
Then again I was leaving my subdivision and thought I saw an accident scene at the intersection outside my community. However, it was again a work truck, not even a city, state, or construction contractor, but just a regular private business truck. It had two additional red lights (LED) that would flash alternatively a bright color when the brake pedal was depressed.
Then much later in the day, I saw a jeep with its third brake light a bright red LED flashing as well. This vehicle was not a business transport, but a private vehicle.
Is there another change in laws now that we are now going to have to have a flashing red brake light on all of our vehicles just like the present high mount stop light was an addition back in the mid 80's? If so what purpose is this?
Like I said it looks from a distance like a fire truck dispatched at a scene or in transit. Why indeed would we need to cause more misunderstandings and add more useless features to our vehicles as we have plenty already. That annoying strobe light on school buses for one. Then thank goodness we have had Lynx Buses in Orlando get rid of their high mount yellow flashers on top of the bus, also created to be an additional brake light that would flash when the bus's brake pedal was depressed as this was causing confusion to cars behind it due to us not knowing if the bus was broken down or picking up passengers instead of just stopped. Now Lynx has two steady red stoplights on the top of the rear of the bus where those false emergency flashers once were.
Hopefully this will be a bust and not live long as I guarantee that many people will think that accident scenes will be taking place at every intersection, or worse yet people will think actual emergency vehicles will be stopped cars.
I've seen something similar on mass transit buses as well. It gets your attention...which I guess is the point of the quick flash.
Interesting. When NHTSA was doing the original field studies on the third brake light, one version of the light they tested was flashing. As I recall, the studies showed no statistical difference in driver reaction to the steady light vs. the flashing light. So the steady light (which was easier to implement at the time) was adopted as the standard.
Could it be that, almost 30 years later, the third brake light has lost its effectiveness because drivers have become so used to seeing it. And that this might be a way to increase the effectiveness of the light?
Quote from: roadman on October 15, 2014, 01:29:41 PM
Could it be that, almost 30 years later, the third brake light has lost its effectiveness because drivers have become so used to seeing it. And that this might be a way to increase the effectiveness of the light?
what happens when we get used to that? giant foam novelty hand?
Flashing break lights (on any motor vehicle) are somewhat common outside of North America.
Quote from: on_wisconsin on October 15, 2014, 01:58:31 PM
Flashing break lights (on any motor vehicle) are somewhat common outside of North America.
The key is, only under heavy braking. And after a few strobes, they go back to a steady red.
I can't verify the authenticity of this thread (http://goo.gl/9N9ZNa) on City-Data, but one user indicates that he saw two new Mazda CX-5s with flashing CHMSLs. This was back in March. I would assume that if it was true, and all new Mazda CX-5s had this feature, the thread would be longer than ten posts.
Our 2011 Toyota Corolla has this feature. I haven't seen it much on other vehicles between living in Dallas when we bought the car 2 years ago and now in central Louisiana. To me, it does seem to catch my attention although I consider myself to be an attentive driver already.
On a related note, has anybody noticed the new turn signals on the back end of some cars that have a red LED brake light 'ringed' around the amber turn light? To my eye, it is outrageously distracting and defeats the whole point of having a separate amber turn signal on the back.
Hey its better than those clear stop lights that some foreign cars were using in the late 90's that had a red bulb inside of it instead. How soon the law got after people who used them that it did not take long to go back to the red reflective cover as it always was.
The purpose of the red lens is so your headlights reflect off of them at night when the other car is parked or sitting still with the motor off at railroad grades. The manufacturer did not think that one out when they decided to change that one out. However, I am glad that either the states or feds passed the law over turning that one.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 15, 2014, 11:31:30 PM
Hey its better than those clear stop lights that some foreign cars were using in the late 90's that had a red bulb inside of it instead. How soon the law got after people who used them that it did not take long to go back to the red reflective cover as it always was.
You mean like this 2015 Toyota Sienna?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2016carsrumors.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F07%2F2015-Toyota-Sienna-rear-view.jpg&hash=25fa8b5d74116c4b7c5cafe7e589ba941f29d998)
People turn the lights off when stopped at railroad grades at night? What the hell is in the drinking water in Florida?
I don't really care for automatically flashing brake lights, since I would tend to interpret it as a warning that something particularly drastic is happening ahead. I will sometimes manually flash my brake lights (i.e. tap the brake pedal) when I am in a situation that someone coming up behind me might need to give extra attention to, like when I'm the last car on a slow-moving exit ramp queue that has backed up onto the mainline.
I personally feel that having amber turn signals is safer, since it not only is brighter than red, but it is also easier to differentiate what the person is doing at that moment. Plus, having it as a seperate bulb versus a combined one means that it is less likely to burn out.
Also, NHSTA has a rule, is it cost effective to incorperate a safety feature. For example airbags were too expensive until the late 90s to mandate, but they did mandate passive restraint, which could either be automatic seatbelts or airbags. the CHMSL is so cheap to intergrate that even though the effectiveness of it has degraded, it still saves some life.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on October 16, 2014, 01:10:50 AM
People turn the lights off when stopped at railroad grades at night? What the hell is in the drinking water in Florida?
Seriously. People say it's God's Waiting Room because of the old people, but it seems that Darwinism plays a role as well.
Quote from: jake on October 16, 2014, 01:07:11 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 15, 2014, 11:31:30 PM
Hey its better than those clear stop lights that some foreign cars were using in the late 90's that had a red bulb inside of it instead. How soon the law got after people who used them that it did not take long to go back to the red reflective cover as it always was.
You mean like this 2015 Toyota Sienna?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2016carsrumors.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F07%2F2015-Toyota-Sienna-rear-view.jpg&hash=25fa8b5d74116c4b7c5cafe7e589ba941f29d998)
Clear lens with colored bulb arrangements normally have a colored reflector built into the housing as well. The front and rear turn signals on my 2012 Focus have clear lenses, but amber bulbs and reflectors. The bulb hitting off the reflector gives better light output than the colored lens used to. For example, when I'm preparing to exit a freeway at night, I can see the reflection of the turn signal in the overhead BGS - even if the sign is 15 years old.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on October 16, 2014, 01:10:50 AM
People turn the lights off when stopped at railroad grades at night? What the hell is in the drinking water in Florida?
I did not mean to say that they do that, but using it as other reasons why the red reflector is needed in addtion to a car being parked.
FYI in the older days, people did used to turn the engines off at draw bridges and railroad grades to conserve fuel. Of course many would leave their headlights on, as so would I as to avoid being rear ended. There were, incidentally, folks who turned their lights out completely for whatever reason they have. That is freaky and I would be afraid to do that myself.
You also have stalled cars that cannot even use the emergency flashers either. For instance your electrical system fails you will not have power for that and believe me I saw a stalled vehicle on a freeway once that was that way. Even though the reflectors do not work totally, the principle behind them is to be seen.
Then of course you have that occasional person with tail lights that are not working, but his headlights and front lights do work, where the reflector does bring your attention to the fact he is there in front of you.
I'll turn the car off if I know the line has 100-car trains, but not the lights.
I do appreciate the possibility of losing power, as I had a faulty battery connection strand me where I was stopped at a light on a busy highway. However, I also carry two reflective triangles.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 16, 2014, 09:51:31 AM
Then of course you have that occasional person with tail lights that are not working, but his headlights and front lights do work, where the reflector does bring your attention to the fact he is there in front of you.
Then you have the more-than-occasional incident where someone has DRLs and starts driving at night, forgetting to turn on all their lights. I finally saw someone get pulled over for this.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 16, 2014, 01:55:06 PM
Then you have the more-than-occasional incident where someone has DRLs and starts driving at night, forgetting to turn on all their lights. I finally saw someone get pulled over for this.
When I first got my 2012 Focus, I would ocassionally forget to turn my lights on at night (usually after stopping at a store mid-route) because the instrument lights come on automatically when you start the car (which my 15 year old Contour didn't do). Heven't been pulled over (knocks wood) for it yet though.
I hate when lights turn on, but I hate it even more when lights don't turn off. I've turned off the ignition. I've turned off the light switch. I've taken the keys out. I'm walking away from the vehicle - when will the lights finally turn off???
With all of this technology, I wish that someone would finally implement a system by which the car can tell that there is oncoming traffic, and dim the high beams that the ignorant driver has lazily left on. I feel like this problem has grown over recent years, though I cannot pinpoint why. I also feel like drivers are far less attentive to things like a blast of high beams in their direction to call attention to the problem.
I had a Corolla that had automatic headlights that could not be disabled. Very frustrating, if for some reason I wanted to turn the lights off. My later cars have had the option to disable them - my Camry even had a 'DRL Off' setting which was the only way to disable the automatic lights. With the Camry, I never used the auto lights feature and would either have everything, including the DRLs off, or turn them on manually at night.
I haven't touched my lights since I bought my car in late 2011. Still on auto...still working. On the rare occasion that I do turn them off (drive-thrus mostly), I always forget to turn them back on (so I get rude gestures the whole way home until I finally realize my infantile error).
Interestingly, as some of you might know, I do valet for a local hotel, which means I work with headlights on a daily basis. Some of new models seem to have a feature where there isn't an auto setting for the lower-end models, but where the headlights will turn off when the car is locked using the fob or smart key, even if the lights are set to "on". A little confusing, but I'm getting used to it. I recall the current-gen Elantra ('14 to present) have this feature.
Not related to the above conversation...
North America (minus Mexico) is the only place where I've seen amber headlamp reflectors (not just bulbs) required for the front indicators, but not for the rear (where the brake-light can flash for the indicator). In all other jurisdictions across the globe, the opposite is true: front headlamps need not have amber reflectors for the indicator (all that's required is an amber bulb), but the rear must have a flashing amber indicator.
Here's the front-end of the everywhere-else-spec Hyundai Sonata (on the left), compared to the USA/Canada spec on the right. Notice the difference?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffullcarsreview.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2F2015-Hyundai-Sonata.jpg&hash=927361550fac1b58ff6b3ba5b94d27ef1007224c)(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2016newcarsblog.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F10%2FInterior-2015-Hyundai-Sonata.jpg&hash=fe37251c8d54c50182315368d7344c4a1e5ebf75)
Quote from: Pete from Boston on October 16, 2014, 07:04:31 PM
With all of this technology, I wish that someone would finally implement a system by which the car can tell that there is oncoming traffic, and dim the high beams that the ignorant driver has lazily left on. I feel like this problem has grown over recent years, though I cannot pinpoint why. I also feel like drivers are far less attentive to things like a blast of high beams in their direction to call attention to the problem.
My dad's Lincoln Town Car had one that automatically put on the high beams when no glare was detected and as soon as a car would approach the other way would dim itself all via a sensor on the back of the rear view mirror.
It gave him problems at times and would never turn out the brights, which is obvious why this feature never took off. I know that you mean we have one that takes control of theirs, but if we were to perfect that one right and have it on every car, we would not have the problem.
To answer your question why people do not react any more to the tap of the beams is probably the same reason why people nowadays make abrupt lane changes like it is nothing and should be allowed. You would figure that one person every now and then would be doing this, but it is everywhere and almost one out of every 20 cars on the road do it. I cannot pin point why either, but nonetheless life is full of mysteries which most happen on the road.
I recently saw a DCTA bus with amber/blue flashing brake lights. This is the color combination used for warning lights on DOT and contractor trucks around here. Completely ridiculous on a bus.
Flashing brake lights need to be banned unless they only flash during hard braking. The middle brake light should have manual flash option for traffic stopping on a rural freeway.
The middle brake light is way more important at night. In the daytime, the two primary brake lights are sufficient to me, and are more visible. At night, however, if the middle brake light is out, it can be rather difficult to discern whether a vehicle is braking or not. The cops really need to start pulling over people who don't have them working for that very reason.
Just a thought...it might be a good idea to make brake lights another color such as purple so that they are more obvious at night. Now that LED lights are becoming common, it would be feasible to have purple brake light LED's in the same light section as the tail light.
Rear turn signals should be required to be amber. The color difference is a big issue when the flashers are used at night. Red flashers suck. Even though they are flashing, they still blend in with all the taillights of other vehicles.
In my opinion, some of the newer cars have brake lights with too little surface are illuminated. There needs to be a minimum.
It makes no sense that our government allows vehicles to have different color rear turn signals, and allows vehicles to be made without daytime running lights. We need much more stringent and consistent vehicle lighting standards.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 16, 2014, 10:33:04 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on October 16, 2014, 07:04:31 PM
With all of this technology, I wish that someone would finally implement a system by which the car can tell that there is oncoming traffic, and dim the high beams that the ignorant driver has lazily left on. I feel like this problem has grown over recent years, though I cannot pinpoint why. I also feel like drivers are far less attentive to things like a blast of high beams in their direction to call attention to the problem.
My dad's Lincoln Town Car had one that automatically put on the high beams when no glare was detected and as soon as a car would approach the other way would dim itself all via a sensor on the back of the rear view mirror.
It gave him problems at times and would never turn out the brights, which is obvious why this feature never took off. I know that you mean we have one that takes control of theirs, but if we were to perfect that one right and have it on every car, we would not have the problem.
Audi's new Matrix LED headlamps have this feature. Theirs does not give users personal control...during the night, high-beams are always on unless other traffic is detected. They are not yet in production in North America because of an archaic law requiring users to be able to manually switch between high- and low-beams. Audi is lobbying to get this law removed. Europe was a little skeptical at first, but eventually decided that it was a good safety feature, given that more than half of all accidents occur at night and any attempt to improve night-time safety is laudable.
Quote from: jake on October 17, 2014, 12:14:33 AM
Audi's new Matrix LED headlamps have this feature. Theirs does not give users personal control...during the night, high-beams are always on unless other traffic is detected. They are not yet in production in North America because of an archaic law requiring users to be able to manually switch between high- and low-beams. Audi is lobbying to get this law removed. Europe was a little skeptical at first, but eventually decided that it was a good safety feature, given that more than half of all accidents occur at night and any attempt to improve night-time safety is laudable.
I hope Audi fails in their efforts. I'm tired of 'technology knows best'. My Corolla wouldn't let me override the automatic lights even when there were times I needed to do so. I got very close to disabling this in the wiring. My brother used to complain about his truck with his bright low beam auto lights that he couldn't turn off/turn to DRL when he entered the military base where he worked. He got into a few arguments with the gate guards over the fact that he couldn't dim his lights to the DRL as required. Driving a European spec Audi, one would be shining high beams into the guard shack.
There are times when one needs to make the decisions on the lights, either under a special circumstance, or if the automatic lighting/dimming feature simply fails. Same for the various other idiot features that keep getting added to cars.
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on October 17, 2014, 12:30:46 AM
Quote from: jake on October 17, 2014, 12:14:33 AM
Audi's new Matrix LED headlamps have this feature. Theirs does not give users personal control...during the night, high-beams are always on unless other traffic is detected. They are not yet in production in North America because of an archaic law requiring users to be able to manually switch between high- and low-beams. Audi is lobbying to get this law removed. Europe was a little skeptical at first, but eventually decided that it was a good safety feature, given that more than half of all accidents occur at night and any attempt to improve night-time safety is laudable.
I hope Audi fails in their efforts. I'm tired of 'technology knows best'....[t]here are times when one needs to make the decisions on the lights, either under a special circumstance, or if the automatic lighting/dimming feature simply fails. Same for the various other idiot features that keep getting added to cars.
Technology often does know best. With the introduction of new safety features in cars every year, traffic collisions (and the injuries and deaths associated with them) are down across the board. This reduction is a result of manufacturer innovation. On the other hand, human-intervention is often the cause of collisions these days (distracted driving, driving under the influence to name a couple). Our cars have to become smarter to keep up with our mistakes.
Back on topic, I'm sure Audi includes an over-ride feature somewhere. Have you ever looked around a German nav system? You can change basically everything about the car.
My girlfriend's 2013 Focus has a feature that automatically turns the headlights on at night. She loves it, I'm not a fan. Fortunately, this feature can be switched on and off at will if like me you can operate the headlights manually thank you very much.
Fundamentally I feel like whenever anything is automatic, there needs to be some means of manual override in the event of unusual circumstances that the automaticness isn't programmed to recognize.
As for high beams, greater inattentiveness may be a thing but I feel like even if people dim them like they're supposed to, oncoming headlight glare is more of an issue than it used to be. Have the headlights on new cars gotten brighter in the past few years or are my eyes just getting less able to handle large contrast as I get older?
Quote from: Brian556 on October 16, 2014, 10:43:01 PM
I recently saw a DCTA bus with amber/blue flashing brake lights. This is the color combination used for warning lights on DOT and contractor trucks around here. Completely ridiculous on a bus.
Flashing brake lights need to be banned unless they only flash during hard braking. The middle brake light should have manual flash option for traffic stopping on a rural freeway.
The middle brake light is way more important at night. In the daytime, the two primary brake lights are sufficient to me, and are more visible. At night, however, if the middle brake light is out, it can be rather difficult to discern whether a vehicle is braking or not. The cops really need to start pulling over people who don't have them working for that very reason.
Just a thought...it might be a good idea to make brake lights another color such as purple so that they are more obvious at night. Now that LED lights are becoming common, it would be feasible to have purple brake light LED's in the same light section as the tail light.
Rear turn signals should be required to be amber. The color difference is a big issue when the flashers are used at night. Red flashers suck. Even though they are flashing, they still blend in with all the taillights of other vehicles.
In my opinion, some of the newer cars have brake lights with too little surface are illuminated. There needs to be a minimum.
It makes no sense that our government allows vehicles to have different color rear turn signals, and allows vehicles to be made without daytime running lights. We need much more stringent and consistent vehicle lighting standards.
You're talking about the same government that banned non sealedbeam headlights prior to 1984. 1948-1984 you could not have replacable bulbs with fixed lenses, and after 1968 you could not have aerodynamic covers. How about the US DOT standard having more upwards glare than european standard lights.
As for high beams. that feature that turns them on automatically should never be allowed. This is because high beams are too bright for residential areas. and disturb people while inside their homes.
I actually think we need a law banning high beams in residential areas.
There is no need for high beans when traveling 20-30 MPH. The low beams are plenty good enough. I live in the suburbs, and never feel a need to use the high beams. I have an 04 Camry.
Quote from: Brian556 on October 17, 2014, 02:14:59 AM
As for high beams. that feature that turns them on automatically should never be allowed. This is because high beams are too bright for residential areas. and disturb people while inside their homes.
I actually think we need a law banning high beams in residential areas.
There is no need for high beans when traveling 20-30 MPH. The low beams are plenty good enough. I live in the suburbs, and never feel a need to use the high beams. I have an 04 Camry.
Seat belts are also a nuisance...we should just dump those, right? Just because it's a slight annoyance doesn't warrant a ban. Especially when you consider that some people (such as myself) live in an area with plenty of large animals crossing the road on a regular basis. Low-beams are acceptable but at 30-mph, high-beams are very helpful in preventing collisions.
High-beams blinding an oncoming driver are not "helpful in preventing collisions."
Quote from: US81 on October 18, 2014, 10:30:39 AM
High-beams blinding an oncoming driver are not "helpful in preventing collisions."
Whoever leaves their high-beams on when there's an oncoming car is an idiot, and deserves to lose their license.
Quote from: jake on October 17, 2014, 02:34:30 AM
Seat belts are also a nuisance...we should just dump those, right?
And how is wearing a seat belt annoying the people whose houses you are driving past?
Quote from: US81 on October 18, 2014, 10:30:39 AM
High-beams blinding an oncoming driver are not "helpful in preventing collisions."
Or high beams blinding the driver of the car in front of you.
Quote from: vdeane on October 19, 2014, 03:20:20 PM
Quote from: jake on October 17, 2014, 02:34:30 AM
Seat belts are also a nuisance...we should just dump those, right?
And how is wearing a seat belt annoying the people whose houses you are driving past?
The comparison was not a good one, but my original point remains: just because high beams are nuisance does not mean a ban is warranted. High beams have saved my car more times than I care to count, and I'm not about to let some middle-class liberals ban them because they find them to be slightly annoying.
I don't see anyone calling for a ban on high beams - just on the feature that turns them on automatically (which is allowed in Europe).
I'm not sure where the leap to "middle-class liberals" came in. Wouldn't it be "stodgy inflexible conservatives" that don't like new things? Or could it be that... it's pointless to make this about a particular political persuasion?
Quote from: vdeane on October 20, 2014, 12:51:57 PM
I don't see anyone calling for a ban on high beams - just on the feature that turns them on automatically (which is allowed in Europe).
Quote from: Brian556 on October 17, 2014, 02:14:59 AM
I actually think we need a law banning high beams in residential areas.
There is no need for high beans when traveling 20-30 MPH. The low beams are plenty good enough. I live in the suburbs, and never feel a need to use the high beams. I have an 04 Camry.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on October 20, 2014, 01:48:21 PM
I'm not sure where the leap to "middle-class liberals" came in. Wouldn't it be "stodgy inflexible conservatives" that don't like new things? Or could it be that... it's pointless to make this about a particular political persuasion?
"Middle-class liberals" meaning stay-at-home moms commenting on local news stories on Facebook (who are often middle-class suburban liberals, at least here in the Seattle area). But ultimately, it is about politics. Any ban would cost money to enforce, and any time a local jurisdiction has to re-allocate funds to enforce a law (on top of writing, and then implementing it), politics will get involved. As a conservative, I would not want money being wasted on writing, implementing, and enforcing this law.
Quote from: jake on October 17, 2014, 12:14:33 AM
Theirs does not give users personal control...
The above statement is why this "feature" will never see the light of day in the U.S.
Quote from: jake on October 17, 2014, 12:14:33 AM
...during the night, high-beams are always on unless other traffic is detected.
What about cases where you run into dense fog? It's a well known fact that using high-beams in dense fog will blind the driver of said vehicle making you a hazard to everyone else on the road. Does the Audi come with automatic fog detection?
I think the idea of automatic high-beams is a terrible idea and I, like a few others here, hope Audi fails in their attempt to change the law to accommodate this "feature". BTW, Audi does realize the law can't be changed at the Federal level. They need to approach each state.
FWIW, driving with high-beams is one of my pet peeves about drivers now a days. There isn't a day (err night) that goes by where I'm blinded by some moron driving either towards me or following me with his/her high-beams on.
Quote from: myosh_tino on October 20, 2014, 04:03:52 PM
From what I can tell *now*, I believe Audi gives their users personal control. My initial statement was not based on anything other than what I thought I saw in the original video detailing how the headlamps work.
Given this, they are hardly any different than automatic headlights (in fog, they can be disabled).
Quote from: jake on October 20, 2014, 03:01:05 PM
Quote from: vdeane on October 20, 2014, 12:51:57 PM
I don't see anyone calling for a ban on high beams - just on the feature that turns them on automatically (which is allowed in Europe).
Quote from: Brian556 on October 17, 2014, 02:14:59 AM
I actually think we need a law banning high beams in residential areas.
There is no need for high beans when traveling 20-30 MPH. The low beams are plenty good enough. I live in the suburbs, and never feel a need to use the high beams. I have an 04 Camry.
Quote from: Pete from Boston on October 20, 2014, 01:48:21 PM
I'm not sure where the leap to "middle-class liberals" came in. Wouldn't it be "stodgy inflexible conservatives" that don't like new things? Or could it be that... it's pointless to make this about a particular political persuasion?
"Middle-class liberals" meaning stay-at-home moms commenting on local news stories on Facebook (who are often middle-class suburban liberals, at least here in the Seattle area). But ultimately, it is about politics. Any ban would cost money to enforce, and any time a local jurisdiction has to re-allocate funds to enforce a law (on top of writing, and then implementing it), politics will get involved. As a conservative, I would not want money being wasted on writing, implementing, and enforcing this law.
Thanks for clarifying that it's specifically liberal
women that are the problem, not me. (I know, I know, liberal women raising kids at home, not all liberal women. What matters is that the problem is a class of people that's not me, which is what this–like most political issues–clearly boils down to.)
Speaking of headlights...Anybody seen the new motorcycles with the "pulsing" headlights?
I know that it's to help motorcycles be noticed more, but I have unnecessarily stepped on the brakes or pulled over when I saw the "pulsing" light, thinking it was a motorcycle cop when I see them in my rear-views or seeing them coming the other way.