Guide Flashing brake light - $7-ish

[Guest]

Installed a $7 flashing LED brake light to help get distracted drivers attention when I'm slowing down:

A little before vs after comparison, along with installation footage in between.
No extra components, very affordable, no splicing of wires, easy as changing a light bulb.

I was torn between Guide vs Review for this, as it's kind of neither? I can't really call it a review, I haven't really vetted and tested this product... I guess it's a guide? *shrug*

 

[Hrunkaru]

Are the flashing brake lights legal? Do you see them around a lot?

I know that some modern cars have flashing brake lights for hards stops/emergency braking, but not sure if it would be legal to have constantly…

Other than that great video and definitely gets more attention!

 

[Guest]

On one hand, flashing lights of certain colors (red, blue, etc.) are reserved for certain special vehicles, so these might not be legal.
On the other hand, you could simply manually flash your brake lights, so what's the difference?

It's a bit of a grey zone, but I feel like they aren't obnoxious, aren't hurting anyone, and cops are lazy... so... I think it will be okay. We'll see.

 

[GIZZ]

In traffic I've been manually tapping my brake lights like that for as long as i've been riding. I've been asked if I have a flasher. Having done this for 30+ years, on the bike, in the car, everywhere. I just can't do it and panic stop at the same time, so I would be interested in this LED. But I'd prefer 3 flashes, and a little less rapid.

 

[Hrunkaru]

I was rather considering the annual technical inspection than cops, but anyway, it would only take a minute to change the bulbs back to originals for the inspection. Not sure if you have such inspections in US and Canada at all though.

 

[Guest]

Here inspections are only for when you first register (buy) a vehicle. Once it's already yours it's up to you to be responsible and maintain it.

We used to have emissions tests every so often, but they found it was just a cash grab and that personal vehicle emissions represented such a tiny percentage of the total air pollution that the cost to the tax payer and drivers weren't warranted.

 

[R-Rated]

I would definitely check local and state laws.

Where I live, the motorcyclist groups had a hard fight to get it legal here. One politician was against it by saying it would confuse the public into thinking the motorcycle was an emergency vehicle. That argument was shown to be invalid because here the only emergency vehicles with flashing red only light are ambulances and firetrucks.

A bike is not as big as an ambulance or firetruck

For my part of the world, we have this as part of the rules:

For the purposes of this part, “continuously flashing light system” means a brake light system in which the brake lamp pulses rapidly for no more than five (5) seconds when the brake is applied, and then converts to a continuous light as a normal brake lamp until the time that the brake is released.

 

[R-Rated]

I was rather considering the annual technical inspection than cops, but anyway, it would only take a minute to change the bulbs back to originals for the inspection. Not sure if you have such inspections in US and Canada at all though.

Some states and locales have inspections in the US and some do not.

 

[Guest]

I would definitely check local and state laws.

Where I live, the motorcyclist groups had a hard fight to get it legal here. One politician was against it by saying it would confuse the public into thinking the motorcycle was an emergency vehicle. That argument was shown to be invalid because here the only emergency vehicles with flashing red only light are ambulances and firetrucks.

A bike is not as big as an ambulance or firetruck

For my part of the world, we have this as part of the rules:

For the purposes of this part, “continuously flashing light system” means a brake light system in which the brake lamp pulses rapidly for no more than five (5) seconds when the brake is applied, and then converts to a continuous light as a normal brake lamp until the time that the brake is released.

So basically it's a non-issue for you since they flash for on about 2 seconds (less than 5), correct?