Re: IML: Side Marker Lamps/Reflectors

["Darryl Skerman" <daskerman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been going through the process of getting my '76 New Yorker Brougham 
registered here in Australia.  One of the things they insist on is the 
correct coloured lights for parkers and indicators.  I had to add separate 
white parker lights at the front (which conveniently fitted into the 
existing parker/indicator housing) and separate amber indicator lights at 
the rear.  I fitted some amber lights into the bumper-mounted reflector 
slots.  I have to confess that I thought it was odd to have the indicators 
double as the parkers at the front and the indicators double as the brake 
lights at the rear - I'd like to know the history of why North America 
adopted that standard.

I'm not sure what the regulations are in Europe but I thought Great Britain 
was the same as Australia.  Also, Australian compliance has required amber 
indicator repeater lights on the front fenders since the early '90s. 
They're usually behind the wheel arch or on the door-mounted rear view 
mirrors.  Presumably this is so another vehicle can see your intention to 
turn from the side.  All I know is that they generally use 5 watt globes.


---- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Hogg" <luxoliner@xxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 6:36 AM
Subject: Re: IML: Side Marker Lamps/Reflectors


> Some good points Chris.
>
> IMO, turn signals should always be amber and stop lights should always be
> red.  It's simple logic.  The rules of the road state that a flashing 
> amber
> light means "CAUTION".  You see those at construction zones etc where 
> there
> may be "something different happening".  A flashing red light means "STOP
> and proceed with caution".  Many intersections have a flashing red light
> coupled with a stop sign.  Many intersection signal lights will flash red
> one direction and amber the other in non-peak hours.  I fail to see why 
> this
> convention has been broken on North American built vehicles.  Have you 
> ever
> followed a vehicle that incorporates the stop and turn signals into the 
> same
> bulb?  If the driver puts on the turn signal then pumps the brake some, 
> you
> can't tell what's going to happen as the red lights on both sides are
> flashing.
>
> Turn signals should always be amber, IMO.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Christopher H" <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 12:10 PM
> Subject: Re: IML: Side Marker Lamps/Reflectors
>
>
> Those fender-mounted turn signal lights (they are not side markers, even
> though everyone calls them that) were not required in Europe/Japan in 
> 1967-8
> when the law took effect in the US, and the US carmakers and lawmakers 
> were
> not likely thinking about export markets for US products (few US-market
> products even sell there today). I also don't believe Europe requires them
> to be behind the front wheel: Porsche puts them where our market's front
> side markers go, but they wrap into the wheel arch so they're visible from
> the rear-side.
>
> US cars only require one reverse lamp as well, believe it or not. The 
> reason
> it's more common in Europe is that the EU also requires a red rear 
> foglamp,
> which many automakers locate where the left reverse lamp would be. The 
> only
> vehicle I know of that is sold in the US with such a configuration is the
> Mercedes G-Class.
>
> As for the US cars getting the turn signal on the fender (or somewhere
> visible), some carmakers already use it voluntarily. Many have adopted it 
> in
> the side mirror housings, which is more visible to pedestrians in front of
> the car as well as vehicles in the next lane.
>
> But looking at the degradation of lighting functionality despite all this
> new lighting technology (there are several new cars from the US, Europe 
> and
> Asia that use cutting-edge LEDs for taillamps yet combine the brake, tail
> and turn signal into a single red unit, when it doesn't take a scientist 
> to
> figure out that separate, and differently colored, rear lamps communicate
> the driver's intentions faster). I asked a Chrysler designer rep about the
> cheapo single-bulb taillamps on the base 300 and his defense of why there
> were no amber signals was "they're not required by law."
>
> We'll see what our new Imperial has if it gets the go-ahead, but I imagine
> it'll be plain red unless the Fed steps in again. Maybe they'll pay a
> tribute to 1969 and give us some sequentials!
>
> Chris in LA
>
>
>
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