Tail Lights - Ready, Set, Watch Me Break

Tail lights serve a great purpose for drivers. I know most of you are thinking the only purpose a tail light has served for you is getting you a ticket because of a blown light but this is not the case. Safety is the essential reason that cars have tail lights and in this article you will be able to identify the key uses of the tail light function.

Screeeeeeeeech, this is the sound your car makes when you are coming to a short stop. You may have had to press on your breaks because the person in front of you made a short stop or maybe you weren't paying attention and wanted to avoid hitting something or someone. Either way, once you tap or fully press on your breaks, your tail lights come on and alerts the driver behind you that you are about to stop thus causing a chain reaction amongst the other drivers. Although this action can be considered dangerous at times (when you stop too close to the front vehicle), it has saved many lives and will continue to do so.

Tail lights provide an alternative sense of security. Using the proper signaling is a safety that a lot of drivers do not use enough. Can you imagine how many lives can be saved every day if people just follow the rules of the road? More often than not when in a vehicle whether I am the passenger or the drive, the preceding driver will not signal. Signaling literally takes a second or two to accomplish and inform the other drivers that a person is turning in either direction. Signaling is a great way to let the other person know what your intentions are. Some people forget that people are not mind readers (or at least not all people) and they dart out into traffic without any indication. What is it going to take for people to realize that signals must be used with? What is so hard about signaling? Nothing but people still refuse to protect their life and the lives of other drivers.

Have you ever made an attempt to reverse down a street in order to park because someone either came out as you passed the spot or initially you missed it? I believe we all have at some point in time and believe it or not, you probably would have been less successful if you did not have any car tail lights. The reverse lights give an indication to the cars in the rear that the vehicle is about to back up. Since the car in the rear is able to see the reverse lights, nine times out of ten, they will either move back as well or stay in their spot until they deem it safe to proceed. No one can ever be for certain how far the preceding car is going to back up, but they know once the reverse lights go off, normally they have made it to their destination and the coast is now clear. Although reversing down a street is incredibly risky and illegal (depending on where you are), this would prove to be the safest way to do so.

As you can see, tail lights hold a great bit of significance in car safety. If not for tail lights, how would you see the cars ahead of you? How would a car know you are at a stop or about to stop? It is the key communication component necessary in order to draw attention to your actions. More important, tail lights save lives so the next time you get stopped by a police officer for a broken tail light say, "Thank you" instead of getting upset, they are only trying to help save your life.

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By Eli Cranston