Why are brake, tail and fog lights all red?

[busta]

It's a bit confusing isn't it. Why not have some purple or green lights or something? A bit of variety would be good.

[Prof Prolapse]

Because in all instances they are alerting you that you may need to alter speed or direction?

[Caulkhead]

Can I be the first to recommend handing in your driving licence and getting a bus pass.

[Perd Hapley]

When I was in primary school I pondered the same question. I proposed a rainbow of lights on the back of each car, I think each side's indicator was even a different colour.

Note: primary school.

[The_Cheeseman]

I'd guess part of it is the fact Red = Danger/Warning.

Another thing could be that at night red light has less effect on your night sight than any of the other colours, if I remember correctly.

[turbopug]

Do colourblind persons see the rear lights as green?

[ninja-lewis]

I suppose it didn't matter in the old days when the lights were all individual and easily distinguishable rather than the "brake lights within tail lights" that many modern vehicles have now.

[Spitfire2]

ninja-lewis said:

I suppose it didn't matter in the old days when the lights were all individual and easily distinguishable rather than the "brake lights within tail lights" that many modern vehicles have now.

I'd have said more cars have seperate brake lights today than in the "old days" when it was more common for brake lights to be a brighter filament within the same bulb as the tails.

[andyjo1982]

busta said:

thas a bit confoosin int ut. Why dont ya have some purple or green lights or summut? A bit of variety would be bloody luvly mate.

Just made that make more sense for you Busta

[Funk]

Red is at the long end of the light spectrum and more easily seen than most other colours. That's why warning lights are always red. They're more visible and distinguishable to the human eye.

Edited by Funk on Saturday 16th July 15:21

[98elise]

busta said:

It's a bit confusing isn't it. Why not have some purple or green lights or something? A bit of variety would be good.

If you find those confusing should you really be driving a car?

How do you cope with 3 fairly similar pedals on the floor?

[Dogwatch]

One of the pre-grouping Railway companies (Lancs & Yorks?) did use other colours in its dockside signals to avoid confusion with the red and green navigation lights of the moored ships.

[Mojo Jojo]

So you know you're looking at the back of the car

[VB]

I thought it was because red light doesn't effect your vision at night.

[busta]

Come on PH clever clogs, there must be a reason, although I appreciate it is much easier for the slower ones amongst us to just pass ridicule than to actually think about something.

Red not affecting night vision is the best so far, but that isn't so important with fog lights.

Some differentiation between fog lights and brake lights would make sense wouldn't it? And isn't yellow supposed to be the best colour for 'piercing through' fog?

[Negative Creep]

Funk said:

Red is at the long end of the light spectrum and more easily seen than most other colours. That's why warning lights are always red. They're more visible and distinguishable to the human eye.

Edited by Funk on Saturday 16th July 15:21

I have also wondered if it's to do with evolution, i/e that many poisonous species are red or yellow

[busta]

Mojo Jojo said:

So you know you're looking at the back of the car

That's what tail lights are for, the clue is in the name... but why can't the tail lights be orange? Red means warning or stop, which isn't what tail lights indicate..

[busta]

Funk said:

Red is at the long end of the light spectrum and more easily seen than most other colours. That's why warning lights are always red. They're more visible and distinguishable to the human eye.

Edited by Funk on Saturday 16th July 15:21

Fair enough, so red is the ideal colour for brake lights. But what about the others?

[andyjo1982]

busta said:

Come on PH clever clogs, there must be a reason, although I appreciate it is much easier for the slower ones amongst us to just pass ridicule than to actually think about something.

Red not affecting night vision is the best so far, but that isn't so important with fog lights.

Some differentiation between fog lights and brake lights would make sense wouldn't it? And isn't yellow supposed to be the best colour for 'piercing through' fog?

Sorry to have a dig. Couldn't a yellow fog light look similar to a headlight or a reversing light? Could be very easy to get mixed up. I really dont think its much of an issue, for a the 20 or so nights of the year where we have thick fog, the red lights do the job.

[R0G]

going off on a tangent -

Why did the numpties make hazard lights the same as indicators - that is a daft idea