Is it possible to ever be “safe” enough? No, of course not – because there is always some way to be even safer than before – and someone will think up how.
Someone just did.
How about green brake lights – for the front of your car? Leave it to the Germans – technically, the Austrians – to think of that. Expect a mandate, soon. It may not even be necessary to mandate them because the vehicle manufacturers will probably make them standard in anticipation of a mandate – as they have with “assistance technology,” which became standard in all new vehicles years before the Biden regime got around to mandating the tech (e.g., automatic emergency braking). The vehicle manufacturers have learned it is easier to get along by going along – and more profitable, too. Also, when it comes to “safety” no one wants to be seen as not “caring” about it.
That is why it seems to be all they care about.
“A recent study by the Technical University in Graz, Austria, suggests that front-facing brake lights could benefit everyone.”
Italics added. It could also “benefit everyone” if gold coins were to fall from the sky. Whether gold coins actually fall from the sky – or there’s any actual benefit to mounting brake lights on the front of cars is another matter.
The claim is that if an approaching car had green brake lights up front, other drivers could tell it was slowing down or that its driver wasn’t planning to move forward. This would reduce the chances of an accident happening, for instance, as a result of a driver who assumed he had the right-of-way but hit but another car he assumed was slowing to stop and wait for the left turn signal in the opposing lane who did not stop.
“To determine how much front brake lights might help, researchers studied data from 200 car crashes that occurred at Austrian intersections, then ran computer simulations of what would happen if drivers had the extra warning that front brake lights would have provided in those situations. They simulated reaction times of 0.5 seconds (a perfect drag race reaction time), one second (average), and 1.5 seconds (someone with slower reflexes or who may not have been paying close attention).”
“The simulations showed that 7.5 percent of these crashes could have been avoided completely with the slowest reaction time, and 17 percent with the fastest reaction. Additionally, 25.5 percent of these crashes still would have occurred, but at a significantly lower impact speed, reducing injuries and vehicle damage.”
Well, fine. And 100 percent of such crashes could have been avoided by everyone staying home. Or driving no faster than a fast walk – though even in that case, there is still a chance someone might run into something. 
Maybe the safe thing to do would be what the German authorities supposedly did when Carl Benz wanted to drive his first car on the government’s roads. They government required him to hire men to precede the car, with red flags waving, to warn any pedestrians of the imminent (eventually) arrival of the sputtering early auto that was gimping along at a fast walk.
It’ll probably come to that.
In fact, it already has come to that – at least in terms of the overtly stated goal, styled Vision Zero. Meaning zero accidents/injuries caused by vehicles. It is of a piece with the “zero COVID” policies adopted by some countries’ governments and that came functionally very close to being imposed here. No weighing of costs relative to benefits, including the putative ones. All that matters is a single, unreachable goal – assuring the goal will never be reached.
That being the point of the thing, probably.
You can imagine what this will do to the appearance of cars, too. Just look at the rear ends of cars made since the mid-1980s, when the federal government mandated a third brake light, the Center High Mounted Stop Light (CHMSL). Cars made before the mandate had two brake lights – until the government decided two bright lights were not enough to indicate the vehicle ahead of you was slowing down. A third one – mounted higher up – was necessary! This led to the uglification of the rear-ends of cars made since then as well as another expense point.
We have reached the point of Monty Python-esque absurdity. School busses have flashing strobe lights on them now – because it’s apparently difficult to notice a huge yellow school bus with flashing red lights and a Stop! sign that extends from its flanks when it stops to drop off or pick-up kids. Cars have their headlights on in the daytime now; it used to be people only turned them on when it was dark – or because they were part of a funeral procession. You used to be able to see funeral processions. And motorcycles. Now all you can see is the glare, everywhere.
Green lights up front – and the new glare behind you whenever another car stops behind you) – are just what the doctor ordered!
Saaaaaaaaaaaafety first!
. . .
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Vaccidents still gonna happen
Gallagher (the comedian) made a joke about this concept over 40 years ago. It was a joke. Now the real world is a joke
Do you recall, what was the joke?
A risk-free society is a stagnant society, run by women for the benefit of women. Everything flattened, everyone equal, nothing to do. No wonder Dutchies and Canuckis are flocking to their government-run killing fields.
I like this part, “A risk-free society is a stagnant society”.
Fits right in with this bit: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. God Himself is not secure, having given man dominion over His works! Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Faith alone defends. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” – Helen Keller. [A woman.]
I dunno about the other half, “run by women for the benefit of women”. That seems like a stretch.
Also, I wonder why you picked the nic, cobblestones?
Is there meaning behind it?
?? computer simulation ??
like the climate ones?
As for vision zero, applying ones time to an effort of impossibility is a great way to ensure oneself a career that will never come to an end.
I suspect that Failure to use Turn Signals at Intersections is a large factor in Collisions where one Car is Turning, and the other Driver doesn’t realize it until it’s too late.I live in an area that has a large percentage of third-world ‘drivers’ who almost Never use Turn Signals, at Intersections or Lane Changes.
Weird, this: “I live in an area that has a large percentage of […] ‘drivers’ who almost Never use Turn Signals, at Intersections or Lane Changes.”
Do you think, getting crashed into, will correct this idiocracy?
I think of the word, ‘Dummkopf’s’. Or, vaxxed?
Unlike the poorly and illogically marked US Roads/Highways, Austria (like the Germany) has clear and precise Road Signage. One of which is a yellow/white diamond Sign which indicates Priority. These Signs are at EVERY Intersection on the Road which has Priority over cross Traffic. If a Road does not have this Sign, the Driver will have a Yield or Stop Sign. At an Intersection which does not have the yellow/white diamond Sign, all Drivers arriving at an Intersection must yield to the vehicle APPROACHING from the Right.
As per Classroom Training: If 4 Drivers arrive at an uncontrolled Intersection at the the same Time, an Agreement through Eye Contact and Hand Gestures will be made as to which Driver may proceed first. After which all other Drivers will abide by the Yield to the Vehicle from the Right Rule.
Abiding by these Rules precludes the need for any additional warning Devices.
Man, Doug. You seem to really – really – like signs. I’d never come across the term, “uncontrolled Intersection” until today.
I imagine you’d have a panic attack driving the streets of Tijuana.
“an Agreement through Eye Contact and Hand Gestures will be made as to which Driver may proceed first” HA! The beater car, goes first, the nice [expensive] car, yields. No need for hand gestures [Da middle finger] or, “eye contact”.
Really…, “eye contact’? Psft. Nutz. Six paces & turn?
Then, there’s this:
“Uncontrolled Intersections: What do you do when you come to an uncontrolled intersection where there are no stop or yield signs?
Slow down, look both ways and yield to traffic on your right. In the above situation, the vehicle on the right has the right of way.” – Helena Montana Police Department’s post
Well, better check with current regs re colored emergency lights.
GREEN lights are used by volunteer firefighters on their way to an emergency, have been for decades.
What “front light signal” moron didn’t check this out first?
https://www.greenflashinglight.com/
Hmph, I’ve never seen green lights being used by volunteer firefighters on their way to an emergency. Not once. Ever.
Is that a West Coast/Mtn. thing?
Indeed, here in the upper Midwest we use reds or reds and blues. The state has outlawed that. Everyone ignores it
WA statute:
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.37.185
More:
https://ultrabrightlightz.com/blogs/ubl-insider/what-do-green-emergency-lights-mean
First there is front hole, now, front brake lights. Good Lord.
The Pentagon should go hat in hand to Iran, buy some of their missiles and purchase the missile technology that Iran has.
It’s only fair to share. Level the playing field. All is fair in love and war, especially war, hot damn!
They’ll probably save 500 billion dollars in costs to the arms industry, you know that they are always stealing everything in sight.
Have to front run their foolishness.
Screw war!
“The Pentagon should go hat in hand to Iran, buy some of their missiles and purchase the missile technology that Iran has.” -drumphish
That’s a great idea, but efficiency and money savings is the last thing the arms industry wants.
The color green always stood for „go“ except now it stands for „stop“ as well? Well eff me !!
I would submit that all of the latest tech makes driving less safe as it diverts drivers’ attention from the task. And…..LED brake lights are now so unreasonably bright that it hurts the eyes requiring the driver behind to look elsewhere in self defense.
I feel that’s part of the plan to get people out of cars; to may it an annoying experience. To you the buyer it sounds like a good feature. Half the time I cant tell if someone’s brights are on or not. Sometimes they are actually not on, but when they turn on your eyes go to the shadow realm.
Both, good points.
…Our Overlords, & their clueless minions, don’t give a hoot about all that.
All they want, is Power & Control… of you & yours.
…Why won’t you submit?
How does this make things safer? If anything, it adds more confusion. Why do you need to see if a vehicle is braking from the front? And people wonder why every car looks the same. I’m an engineer and we can only work in the box provided by the specifications of the customer. The box constantly shrinks and we get an ocean of look-alike, drive-alike crossover drones.
Yesterday, I couldn’t believe the number of clovers out in force on the interstate, on the coast roads, just doing absolutely impolite and asinine things that definitely raised my blood pressure.
I feel like I’ve become Mr. Hand from Fast Times, “What are you people, on dope?”
Ditto that, Dr. –
I often mutter the immortal words of the Greaseman: And they ask me why I drink…
HA! HA! HA!, “I feel like I’ve become Mr. Hand from Fast Times, “What are you people, on dope?””
…Get off my lawn.
[Only Gen-xers, and possibly, some Boomers, have any clue what ALL that means.]
Related: “It’s called eating our seed corn, spending money borrowed from future productivity and generations to fund unsustainable consumption today. Spoiler alert: this ends badly.”
https://www.oftwominds.com/blogjun25/bubble-wealth-effect6-25.html
This is all magical thinking- no matter how many bright colors, bright lights, or reflective tape you have, none it it matters if you are not seen and mentally registered by the other person. It only makes it easier to see if you are looking at it having already registered its presence. Motorcycle people usually know this since we ride an often loud lighted machine and are still hit. Motorcycle clovers are usually the ones wearing the high viz jacket in hopes it somehow makes them seen over the lights of the bike they are already on. Its all irritating…rant over
Nice rant. “none it it matters if you are not seen and mentally registered by the other person.”
The vaxxed, the clueless Dummkopf, the ditzy cell-phone addict.
Another new term I learned tonight, ‘Motorcycle clovers’.
Grosses me out.
7.5%? Wow! what a reduction.
From the abstract:
Depending on the type of accident, between 7.5% and 17.0% of the accidents analysed can be prevented. A further 9.0% to 25.5% could be positively influenced by the FBL; i.e., the collision speed could be reduced. If the FBLs were visible to the driver of the priority vehicle, the number of potentially avoidable accidents would increase to a magnitude of 11.5% to 26.2%. The range of accidents in which the consequences can be reduced increases to between 13.8% and 39.2%.
I asked ChatGPT to calculate the total number of crashes per intersection and the total number of crashes per automobile in the US annually:
assumptions:
Estimates suggest there are around 16 million intersections in the continental U.S.
In 2025, there are approximately 298.7 million registered vehicles in the United States, including cars, trucks, SUVs, and heavy-duty vehicles.
Each year, there are roughly 2.5 million traffic accidents occurring at intersections nationwide.
Intersection accidents account for about 40% of all car crashes, and represent around 50% of all traffic injuries.
Therefore:
Roughly 0.84% of registered vehicles are involved in an intersection crash annually, or equivalently about 8.4 crashes per 1,000 vehicles each year.
On average, each intersection sees 0.156 crashes per year, meaning about one crash every 6–7 years per intersection.
Summary table (sorry for the bad formatting):
Category. Before Reduction After 7.5% Reduction
Annual crashes 2,500,000 2,312,500
Crashes avoided – 187,500
Crashes per vehicle 0.84% 0.774%
Crashes per 1,000 vehicles 8.4 7.74
Avg. years per crash/intersection 6.4 6.9
Basically very marginal improvements in real world numbers. But expanding out to the entire universe and suddenly those numbers look bigger than they really are. Avoiding 187,500 crashes sounds like a laudable goal, but when considering the millions of vehicles that aren’t involved in accidents at all, it becomes a rounding error.
https://chatgpt.com/share/686525b5-a390-8004-bd7d-e5c98a278456
And that, detective, is the right question.
Neglecting that the projections are an academic exercise anyway and that the claimed percentage improvements are a mirage.
Also neglecting the cost added by these requirements divided by the dollar value of a human life, which will give you the number of lives taken by the mandate.
The whole abstract is just a bunch of weasel words and estimates. The authors just ran simulations on a computer model, no actual data collected.
I don’t believe a word ChatGPT (or any other AI) says, without a verifiable source and independent confirmation.
If you click the link you’ll get the whole thread, with citations.
Vision Zero? Now you’ve got me wondering if Vision Zero is another demented idea from the same sociopaths who are pushing Net Zero, which from my understanding of it is effectively ZERO CARBON DIOXIDE emissions, framed as necessary to stop climate change. But from reading and learning about Net Zero elsewhere, it seems to me that the only way to actually achieve it is to exterminate ALL humans and other carbon based lifeforms, which I’m sure is a wet dream for some truly evil people. But will they volunteer themselves to be exterminated? I doubt it; that’s for everyone else.
They’re the same thing, same types of people.
Yes, it’s for everyone else. Good point.
VEHEMENT –
The Voluntary Euthanasia Human Environmental Management Experiment
I attended the University from age 30 to age 40 so I had a great deal of real world experience and real world skepticism compared to the mostly 20 year olds straight out of high school. A extremely arrogant Zoology ‘professor’ who happened to be a woman with a $5 million dollar National Science Foundation Grant for some bullshit which gives Her high-status issued an assignment to write a NSF Grant Proposal and present it to the class. It was held in a lab room with about 100 people including grad students.
This was 25 years ago even and I made my presentation using an overhead projector and citing evidence of ‘animal management’ policies they use to determine how many animals they should let exist of any given species in any given area. I used the same metrics and policies to determine that humans are vastly over-represented on the planet and the numbers should be reduced to viable levels to protect all life equally on the planet.
My thesis was that humans Would take a heavy narcotic with an excellent high like cocaine if offered free for a One-Time ‘high of their lives’, but the down-side being the consequence of Death afterwards. Note- this was before fentanyl – which is actually a lot like my ‘Experiment’ – and before ‘jew’-stricken countries like canada started offering free euthanasia. My point was that if things got bad enough with starvation, sickness, and financial ruin people WOULD choose to take a pill that would give them the high of their lives then kill them. I suppose filthy creatures flooding the country with fentanyl and offering free euthanasia somewhat proves my hypothesis…
MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR MASS ‘jew’ EXPULSION, AGAIN.
Forgot to mention the ‘professor’ gave me an F+ on it. She said it was “genocidal”. BWAHAAAHHAA!
RE: “She said it was “genocidal””
Yah, you came across as a Malthusian sick bastard, here, too.
A.k.a. you’re nutz.
…Find a woman, and love her.
With all the job losses predicted from either AI or the next depression just think of how many jobs could be created by requiring someone having to walk in front of your car waving a red flag!! This would be a great thing to try out in Blue cities. Jobs and meaningful ones at that. Double plus good comrades!!!
All that said ideas like this are proof that humans are getting dumber by the minute.
“The simulations showed that 7.5 percent of these crashes could have been avoided completely with the slowest reaction time, and 17 percent with the fastest reaction. . .”
Just like the simulated “in silico” discovery of “Covid.” It’s just the same manufactured bullshit created to support an argument for the latest grift.
How about all cars have dial-in boards like you see at the local drag racin’ track? We can all guesstimate the time to get from one traffic light to another, and by using the wifi in the highly connected cars, can place bets in the process.
Patents.
Installing green front braking lights will not solve the problem with lousy, inattentive drivers. I cannot throw a stick without seeing some stupid fool on his phone (one was driving with his knees so he could text between the steering wheel) while behind the wheel. Maybe if car makers included kill switches that shut off a vehicle the minute the driver picked up his phone, then maybe I could take this safety crap seriously. As it is, it is just “one more thing” TPTB may one day force upon us here in the States. For our “saaaafety”, of course.
Careful, you’re giving them ideas: “Maybe if car makers included kill switches that shut off a vehicle the minute the driver picked up his phone”
That said, I bet I can drive better than you if I use my knee to control the steering wheel.
..Seriously. And, no cell phone is involved.
WTF is wrong with you? You do not even know me, Helot, and I would gladly take that challenge. Having said that, you have never driven in these parts, and have no idea the kind of drivers that cannot read and follow a stop sign or red light, let alone do two or three things at once. I was not attacking you or anyone else in this group, so get a grip already. Sheez.
Those third brake lights looked totally awful when they first came out in 1986. Most were mounted to the roof of cars as manufacturers had nowhere else to put them yet. See any 1986 Camaro (especially the IROC) as an example.
This “Vision Zero” crap is getting out of hand. Now the town of West Hartford, Connecticut, is expanding the curbs on streets to protect the pedestrians and slow down traffic.
https://youtu.be/bZtljsuT9YI?si=HyOlJHqr5ePoicpX
Thats going to make driving more dangerous as it will create flow conflict. It will reduce driving speeds in response to a more dangerous road. In the meantime accidents will climb and they will come up with some other crap. Its fun pointing that out. Though id rather spend a day at the beach.
Plymouthbill: Yep, most 3rd brake lights are still ugly for that matter. Statistically, third brake lights worked in the studies. Most of the initial trials were done on government facilities like military bases and other somewhat restricted sites. They worked there, and on the streets initially, because they were unique. Brains said “What the Hell is that?” and took notice. I would be willing to bet that if they were removed now, no significant change would appear in accident statistics. Their novelty is what made them work, not their presence alone.
As a young engineer, I had an argument with one senior to me who installed a red light that lit momentarily on some die-casting machines each time the machine cycled. That was to let the operator know it was still working. I said it should only light when the machine stopped cycling. Overruled. I went back to visit that plant 5 years later. All the lights only lit if the machine failed. Having it flash with each cycle soon made the brain “tune it out” completely and it was as if the light were not there at all.
That is why each generation of “New-and-Improved Driver Aids” has to become more annoying than previously.
Thanks for the vindication. RE: “Having it flash with each cycle soon made the brain “tune it out” completely and it was as if the light were not there at all.”
Working in a John Deere parts distribution factory, they made us forklift drivers honk the horn at every turn & corner. I noticed people were tuning out the horns – as if we were not there – & made mention of the fact, hoping for, ‘improvement’.
I got fired for simply saying so, instead. That’s how bad the ear-plugging was.
I noticed the same thing with the “beep beep beep” of backing up alarms on construction sites; when you hear it constantly you just tune it out.
“front-facing brake lights could benefit everyone”
This ranks right down there with the “EVs will end childhood asthma” BS that “studies say…”
https://www.lung.org/media/press-releases/boosting-health-for-children-transition-to-electr
Why in Heaven’s name do we keep listening to these liars that manipulate statistics? They start with a conclusion and proceed to shuck & jive stats until they get the preconceived conclusion. It’s a sickness. It’s as though the universe will adapt to my irrational preferences simply because I believe it to be. “You have your reality and I have mine” is the overt admission that that is how some people think. Sadly, they seem to be attracted to GovCo employment…and they get hired because that is where their fellow travelers reside.
DONTNThey don’t even bother to day anything more definitive. These are third graders
Of course ending the communists childhood quackcine schedule would eliminate an awful lot of childhood asthma, SIDS, and autism. Why don’t we grab the low hanging fruit by choosing freedom?
We live in a gynocracy across the entire west. Norway and Scandinavia are the the leading edge, with the rest of Europe following close behind. You can be certain that a nation has been gynocrified if there is a woman put in charge of defense or even as foreign minister.
Women, no matter what race, are the favorite bloc of humanity to be used as a bludgeon against civilization by Jews. Blacks and Jeets come in a close second.
“Saaaaaaaaaaaafety” is just another form of “think of the children”. As Hitler said, “First You Get the Women, Then You’ve Got the Children, So Follow the Men”
Jews started their conquest of the female mind already at the turn of the last century with their “women’s suffrage” movement. Then the bimbos took away alcohol with the 19th ammendment, and Jewish gangsters took over the underworld. Jews had already been running alcohol distillation and taverns across the pale of settlement before Illuminati Jews like Jacob Schiff opened the flood gates.
Those Jews soon had control of the US and the FED and used this position of power to start two world wars for Israel, and then give Palestine to the Jews.
So now here we are, with white feminists and lesbians working with diversity to subjugate white males and force Noahide compliance on European civilization. When stupid feminists like Sanna Marin, Annalena Baerbock, Ursula VD Leyen and Kaya Kallas, none who have ever been near the military, are the biggest warmongers on the planet then you know that your civilization is lost.
If we are to restore our civilization the only real remaining question is whether to start top down or bottom up. Do we re-enforce segregation and Jewish ghettos first, or do we force barefoot and pregnant white women back into the kitchen first.
‘Leave it to the Germans’ — eric
Crikey — the frickin’ krauts are at it again? This yankee-occupied tribe of abject Sitzpinklers? Their Austrian cousins managed to drive motorcycle maker KTM into bankruptcy. Now they sold out to the
pajeetsIndians:‘May 23 was the deadline for KTM to avert irrevocable insolvency proceedings and one the company has met with the help of an 800 million euros ($905 million) debt funding package arranged by its Indian partner brand—and substantial shareholder—Bajaj.
‘An initial 200 million euros ($227 million) had already been handed over to keep KTM going during the insolvency proceedings, but an additional 600 million euros ($680 million) has now been provided, covering the amount needed to bring KTM out of insolvency. At this stage, the money is considered a loan, but with regulatory approval it will be converted into a controlling stake in KTM and its parent, Pierer Mobility AG.
‘That money now goes into the hands of the bankruptcy court, which will hold onto it as KTM’s restructuring plan is rubber-stamped, before giving the money to KTM’s creditors as a one-time payment representing a 30% quota of their overall claims. That’s the minimum allowed under Austrian law to stave off bankruptcy, and while it means KTM’s creditors will wave goodbye to 70% of the money they’re owed, it’s substantially more than experts believe would be recouped if KTM was declared bankrupt and liquidated to repay its debts.’
https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-news/ktm-restructuring-to-avoid-bankruptcy/
Does manufacturing have any future in high-cost, energy-poor Europe? I doubt it. But the simpering Sitzpinklers might be able to carve out a little gov-mandated niche, manufacturing green front brake lights.
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” — F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
What a sad state of affairs. First the Jeets got Royal Enfield, now KTM. But it will be a pyrrhic victory for them anyway, all the smaller KTM’s are made in China anyway.
“KTM already has close relations with CFMoto, with the two owning a joint venture in China to manufacture KTMs for the local market and CFMoto using KTM-designed engines in several of its models.”
If Europe wants to bring back manufacturing the first thing they will need is low cost energy. After the US and UK took out Nordstream German manufacturing was toast. The Jews running Germany never batted an eye. It is all part of Tikkun Olam and their Morgentau V2.0 plan.
‘After the US and UK took out Nordstream German manufacturing was toast.’ — Brosi
Germany is a walking dead nation at this point, its economy frozen in amber like an ancient fossil.
German sociologists should be conducting studies of collective learned helplessness under 75 years of US military occupation.
But that would be antisemitic, probably. Or something else equally b-a-a-a-a-a-d …
Jews this, Jews that. You guys are friggin’ insane and full of misdirection & destructive/divisive hatred worth nothing. It’s getting so old & tiresome. 😛
LOL. Not nearly as tiresome as Semites trolling the comments section attempting to eliminate any free speech they don’t approve of. Being kicked out of 109 countries isn’t enough.