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In most countries outside North America, vehicles have separate turn signals which are amber rather than red. In the USA (and probably Canada) this is not part of the standards and a flashing brake light is used as the turn signal in the majority of vehicles.

Technology Connections (a youtube channel) thinks this is unsafe as the ambiguity and lack of redundancy in the American standards exposes other drivers to higher risks:

There are studies linked below that demonstrate a tangible safety benefit of amber turn signals. You might want to check them out. Though it might be small, the benefit is demonstrably there.

While I'm convinced (and not just because I'm a European) the video doesn't quote any numbers (though he suggests that safety data from US insurance claims should be able to measure the difference between the alternatives systems as some US cars follow the European standard).

The logic of the argument is convincing, but is the statistical evidence that European brake light standards are safer than American ones convincing?

matt_black
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    Why not check out the linked studies? –  Jul 15 '18 at 14:07
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    @Orangesandlemons because that’s what *answers* are for. – matt_black Jul 15 '18 at 14:09
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    But you've literally mentioned that there are linked studies in the thing you are questioning. Presumably either the studies are no good, and you should mention why you believe that the case, or they are good, and constitute the answer, a n which case it seems a little perverse not to mention the actual studies –  Jul 15 '18 at 14:16
  • Fair point (clearly I didn't read the links as the content of the video didn't match the text description). So I've modified the question slightly to acknowledge this. But the original point that the right place for analysis of the evidence is the *answers* remains. – matt_black Jul 15 '18 at 14:29
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    Why do you expect others to do research that you don't want to do? – Joe W Jul 15 '18 at 16:38
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    @JoeW I don't. I may even answer the question myself. This site it totally happy with people posting questions they know the answer to. The point is not to get others to do work but to record definitive answers to interesting questions (and to reward to good answers). Feel free to get the reputation points of answering before I do. – matt_black Jul 15 '18 at 16:48
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    You could have included more of that i in the question including links instead of expecting people to watch a video. – Joe W Jul 15 '18 at 16:50
  • Anecdotally - I have *definitely* been thrown off by brake signals that also function as turn signals, and I've lived with them my entire life. – Zibbobz Jul 16 '18 at 19:46
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    "In the USA (and probably Canada) ... a flashing brake light is used as the turn signal in the majority of vehicles." I think this needs a citation. I certainly see them in the usa, but it doesn't seem like a majority. –  Jul 16 '18 at 20:16
  • To quantify @fredsbend's comment, on my five-mile bike home today, I saw 20 cars' turn signals and 15 were amber, only 5 red. – Kevin Jul 17 '18 at 01:55
  • @fredsbend The claim is made in the video (several times). But likely to vary by region/country. Places that prefer European and Japanese cars will have more amber turn signals (but VW often sells their European models with US-style signals). Insurance data should have better evidence (so should work well in an answer). – matt_black Jul 17 '18 at 11:05

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An NHTSA study found between a 3 and 28% decrease in liklihood of collision with amber turn signals, although it acknowledges that some of this may have been related to simply having a separate indicator for braking and turning and not explicitly the colour.

Another study showed a significant decrease in reaction time to a brake signal when the vehicle is fitted with amber turn signals.

dont_shog_me_bro
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