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.
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
Hyundai & Kia are going to find out about this and claim their burnt out taillights are a feature in compliance with UK law.
European drivers at least tend to benefit from the pre-green yellow, so they get some warning to drop the parking brake and select firs.
I rarely put my foot on the brake pedal when stopped in traffic. I rarely put my foot on the brake pedal.
But that’s because my car is a Tesla and “Hold Mode” applies the brakes for me. I assume that it also lights up the brake lights when it has stopped in Hold Mode.
I’m going with the majority here and saying that if you’re dazzled by my brake lights, it means you see my brake lights. That’s the point. What a crazy thing to get mad about.
I’m 68 and never heard of this. Also I take the AARP driving course every few yeas for a discount and this has never been mentioned.
years
I learnt to drive in the UK and this was part of the driving test as I seem to recall. You would fail if you stopped at traffic lights and did not apply the handbrake. I did it for the test and then never again (unless I was stuck in traffic on a particularly steep hill which was rare) In fact I feel like its more dangerous to do this – if you’re the last vehicle in a line of traffic with no brake lights on because you have applied the handbrake, you could potentially risk someone running into the back of you if they’re approaching at speed and dont realize you are stopped. This will become less and less important as we move more towards EV’s and Auto’s and we have auto-hold becoming more and more standard.
In neutral, foot of the brake and on hand brake. And turn of your blinker while you’re at it, your not going anywhere at the moment.
I use the hand break at stop lights regularly to let off the clutch and break. My feet enjoy this.
This is not normal?
In a manual, totally normal. I do this at almost all lights. In an auto? Mental
Nah it’s mental in any car. The hand brake is for parking.
Absolutely. And in a manual better for quick starts (right foot over the accelerator pedal before moving off) and quick, smooth hill starts.
I’ve long puzzled over this since I read about it in UK car magazines in the ’90s. It’s red spectrum light, it shouldn’t be dazzling anyone unless they have some eye lens issue that maybe should preclude them from driving. I’d much rather the jerkoff behind me be more aware that I’m stopped, anyway. I imagine the pulling the parking brake method came from when most cars were manuals. I recently learned that people use it for holding a manual car on an incline, so I imagine it’s related to that and the rule goes back to when most cars were manuals. I taught myself to drive a manual and I learned to hold the car with the left side of my right foot and use the right side for the throttle when starting on a hill. It was also a cinch to adapt this method as an alternate version of heel-toe. How the parking brake driving method became a popular thing is a puzzler to me, but to expect it in this day of electronic parking brakes with poor feedback and autos with sometimes weird gear selectors really doesn’t make sense.
With one-pedal driving on an EV, it takes no energy to keep the brake lights on at a stop.
I’m in New Zealand and lived in Australia for a while. No we don’t have a handbrake at lights rule. BUT your car must have a functioning hand brake to pass a safety test. ALSO it would be strange to put your car in P and NOT apply the handbrake. I can’t wrap my head around why this isn’t a thing in America. You rely on your transmission to prevent your car rolling away? Really? This may be why people get crushed by cars when they can’t figure out how to put their car in Park.
Yes, the majority of people have never used the “hand brake”(usually called emergency brake here). I have never heard of a parking prawl wearing out, but I’ve seen plenty of e-brake cables rusted tight. I think this is just a result of the abundance of automatics in the US and lack of them in other countries.
BTW, the one manual I owned didn’t have a working e-brake. I just left it in gear.
But surely a second safety measure when parking is a good thing right? Like all my manuals I’d park in gear with the handbrake applied. Same thing with all my automatics. Its just common sense.
I always use the parking brake. I can’t park a car without hearing my grandfather in my ear ‘your axles aren’t fucking kickstands’ it’s become reflex now.
People in America call the handbrake “emergency brake” and IME many people never use it at all, even when parked. It’s the weirdest thing.
If the brake lights on the vehicle in front of you are bothering you, you’re clearly too far behind that car. Get closer. They’ll disappear below your hoodline. 😉
No, see, you have to stop several car lengths back, then impatiently inch forward… inch forward… inch forward… until the light changes, after which you must sit there until the driver behind you honks.
>>> If the brake lights on the vehicle in front of you are bothering you, you’re clearly too far behind that car. Get closer. They’ll disappear below your hoodline
I assume you drive a BMW.
Ohhhhh the Irony. They are responsible for the rear fog light that asshat drivers leave on constantly in the US blinding everyone behind them. But, they also can’t stand having break lights on at a stop light. I just don’t understand.
Well, you know, with so many generations of Lucas electrical components, British have become easily startled by functioning vehicle lights.
I don’t remember seeing the UK rule in France.
I do use parking brake in the obvious use case : when starting upslope.
( put first gear in, slowly apply the clutch and accelerate at the same time, when the car feels like it want’s to move, slowly remove the parking break, accelerate and fully apply the clutch [ it’s more complex than that as it require hand and foot coordination, but it’s the basis ]… )
The rest of the time, I just put both foot on the relevant pedals : clutch and brake, put first gear and wait for the green light.
All the manual drivers in San Francisco have this skill.
There are manual drivers in San Francisco?
Jeremy Dale says:
There are manual drivers in San Francisco?
Of course In fact, lots of them. You probably weren’t aware of of that because you don’t know their San Francisco slang name:
Locals call them Trannys.
When I took my test in the UK some 35 years ago (darn I got old all of a sudden) I was told it was for ‘safety’. If you get rear ended and your foot comes off the brake pedal, at least your car will still have it’s rear brakes on, and won’t roll as far / into on coming traffic / off a cliff etc.
This made sense to my logical mind.
When I moved to the USA about 20 years back I was surprised cars didn’t have a handbrake. Of course this was back in the days of nearly all manual cars in the UK, and mostly automatics here.
When I took my test in the UK, if I’d taken it in an auto equipped car, my license would have restricted me to only automatics. I don’t know if this is still the case, or how they thought they’d police this rule.
> I was surprised cars didn’t have a handbrake
Whut
Cars have handbrakes here, as in parking brakes activated with a hand lever.
Some do have foot-operated parking brakes, but functionally they’re the same thing as the handbrake.
What cars did you see without hand (parking) brakes?
I’m making over $13k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life.
That is what I do… https://c2d.in/joblive76
One should also keep the stereo turned down, as loud noises interfere with the echolocation the typical British person relies on to get around.
If you’re in a queue and not the last vehicle it sorta makes sense, I guess. Seems a weird thing to get ones undies in a bunch over, but we’ve all got our pet peeves. Sure hope they switch off their headlights if their not first in the queue though.
I’m confused by this as well. What’s the big deal? Too bright for you? – wear sunglasses (just kidding), or don’t drive at night. Many people driving SUVs can’t even see the main brake lights. I admit that driving my MX5 Miata puts me at, or below the brake lights and they can be bright – but so what? Suck it Up Buttercup!
This is a weird rant.
Personally, I feel like brake lights that flash a few times when they’re applied (common on a lot of Hyundai’s) are much, much, much, much more irritating, especially in stop-and-go traffic.
Why would I worry about my brake light’s glare? Barely anybody on the road is looking up from their devices anyway.
When I have had to drive an automatic, I always put it in reverse when stopped. That way if my foot slips off the brake I roll away from the cross traffic. /s
“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?”
✔️I’m in this post and I don’t like it.
Sorry to be contrary, but I’ve ALWAYS shifted to neutral in my manual cars at lights. Up until I started my current commute, I kept my foot on the brake while stopped. I’ve developed a lot of skill at anticipating the green light by looking at the cross lights or the new crosswalk lights with count down displays. I’m usually waiting for the person in front of me to wake up or get their eyes off of their phone when the light turns green. I do all of this because my philosophy is to use the clutch like an on-off switch to prolong the life of my clutch release bearing. After the one in my BRZ dried up around 60K miles and destroyed the clutch, I’m even more concerned about it.
My current commute now requires that I deal with at least 3 traffic lights that usually catch me and force me to sit still for a long time. I now shift to neutral and apply my e-brake at these lights. If it’s dark or whenever I see someone approaching from the rear while the light’s red (the light is red after all…) I step on the brakes to let them know we’re all stuck at this insanely long light.
I have observed some modern cars with extremely bright brake lights and even owned one (a Mazda 5), but my reasons for minimizing brake applications at red lights have more to do with increasing the life of my car’s mechanicals than reducing brake light glare.
Yes, you should put a manual trans in neutral when stopped because throw-out bearings are not designed to have pressure applied for extended periods of time, as you unfortunately discovered, but I would never take my foot off the brake in traffic. The only time I do that is in fast-food drive thrus.
I don’t understand the throw-out bearing thing. Once the clutch is depressed, isn’t the force on the bearing static? Shouldn’t all the stress come when the pedal is being pressed, rather than while it’s being held down? I still go to neutral and let out the clutch at lights, but mainly just because it’s more comfortable for me.
I think some people are mistaken about how throwout bearings work. So I see statements like “wear out my throwout bearing when stopped” all the time. You are correct. When a car is stopped and the clutch engaged the throwout bearing is not spinning because it is on the driveline side of the assembly. It’s just sitting there and that really causes no wear at all.
There CAN be some wear if you depress the clutch and coast a great distance. Like if you are constantly depressing the clutch coming off the highway and coasting to a stop. In that case the throwout bearing is engaged AND spinning which will cause some wear.
Actually, on every manual transmission vehicle where I have worked on the clutch, the throwout bearing pushes on the fingers that release pressure on the clutch plate. Those fingers are attached to a part that is bolted to the flywheel, and turns with the engine. The clutch disc is attached to the transmission side.
Same. I shift to neutral
Same. I shift to neutral, leave my foot on the brake, and let out the clutch at stoplights. Then when the cars in front of me start to move, or if I’m first in line then when the light for the cross-traffic turns yellow and/or cross traffic starts to slow down, I clutch in and get back into first so I’m ready to go when it’s my turn.
“This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.”
They say that like it’s a good thing. Isn’t the whole point of having the brake lights on that it is very attention-grabbing? I want my brake lights to be distracting to the people behind me.
You should put your manual in neutral and take your foot off the clutch at stop lights though. Otherwise you’re burning up your throwout bearing for no reason.
Notice that the MOT instructions include “once the following traffic has stopped”.
Once you have a stopped car behind you, brake lights accomplish very little.
(Except to me, since I’m always scanning for burnt-out brake lights so I can try to alert the driver.)