Yellow Turn Signals vs Red Turn Signals

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dibbons

dibbons

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Tonight (after dark) I was stopped behind a Toyota RAV4 at a signal when my eyes began to hurt. I commend the driver in front of me for using his/her left turn signal, but that brash yellow light was painful. I thought red was the preferred color for dash lights and rear lights because the red helps one to maintain their adjusted night vision. Whose idea was it anywhere to go with these yellow bonkers?
 
I think this started in Europe. When the Japanese invasion happened in the mid-70's there were lots of these

Old' 70's Toy pickup. Note, amber..........

toyota-pickup-1978-2.jpg
 
The law here is yellow up front and red or yellow signals at the rear. Red for running and braking.

Side lights are yellow up front and red in the rear.
 
Got behind some moron in a Ferd pickup the other day on the way to work.......it was dark........had put WHITE LEDS in his rear turn signals
 
The new Ford trucks have tail lights so dim you can barely see them!
 
Its the idiots that put the smoked covers on them to match there chalkboard black paint scheme, then the only thing you can see is its blue neon license plate frame! LAME! I guess the early Imperials with the tinky winkie brake lights way up on the fins got their share of rear enders.
 
Yellow rear turns are legal as long as they only work as a blinker

I agree that the new led lights either red or yellow are too bright. They even burn an image into my eyes when following them.
 
Dangerous is when the front turn signals are close to or integrated with
the headlights, sometimes its hard to see them flashing.
 
66jim said:
Dangerous is when the front turn signals are close to or integrated with
the headlights, sometimes its hard to see them flashing.
Click to expand...
ford doesn`t even know how to adjust the front beams on their new trucks either, they look like white flood lights!
 
I hate rear yellow turn signals, it has always been and should be RED. Red is for REAR. However, a study was conducted that rear yellow turn signals are safer and more visible. In addition, there are many modern cars that have a separate RED turn signal in addition to separate brake/tail bulbs, I love this kind of setup. Unfortunately, many older and classic cars use a dual filament bulb in the rear which is used by all three functions (tail, brake, and turn signal)--this can limit rear visibility to drivers behind you, so just be aware when you drive older cars and brake and signal early and watch your rear view mirror. It also doesnt help that many of our classic cars lack a third center brake light. (assuming you choose not to install one).
 
I think the amber rear turn signals have been standard in Europe and Asia since the mid sixties. The first car I remember with amber rear turn signals in the US was the 68 Volkswagen. Then they got pretty common on the Japanese imports.
 
Yep, a lot of Europe has amber rear turn lights as law.

I knew a lot of USAF guys that had to engineer around this if taking their US vehicles with them.

I have noticed rear blinkers are getting brighter as well.

IDK what's up with SAE and congress, but they KEEP engineering and requiring brighter headlights.

Does no one realize the driver isn't the only person affected by this.

It's not 100% about how far the driver can see, sometimes it's about not blinding the people in the oncoming traffic.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
I can remember 1978 Aspens having amber lights
Click to expand...

Had a TC3 Horizon with them too back in the day.

67Dart273 said:
Old' 70's Toy pickup. Note, amber..........
Click to expand...

....and the rust where the bed floor attached to the single wall. Up here you were lucky to get a year out of them before the bed rusted off.
The Japanese never did get trucks.
 
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