Y'all know I like to dump on US automotive lighting regulations. In general, they're poop.
BUT. There's one thing we require which the rest of the world bafflingly doesn't.
Side marker lamps!
I was shocked to learn that my Figaro is absolutely dark from the sides at night (save for its turn signal repeaters). That would not fly here AT ALL. There needs to be an amber light up front and a red light in back to indicate its position and orientation from the side at night.
@TechConnectify my car lighting complaint is hazard lights. Which idiot thought that, when you're parked at the side of the road with one of your indicators obscured by whatever you're parked in front of, it should look to approaching drivers like you're indicating to pull out?
Don't know what the laws are like where you are but here hazards are only meant to be used in a hazardous situation. Flicking them on when parked where you're allowed to park just wouldn't cross my mind, and if your car actually is a hazard, whether that signal gets parsed incorrectly doesn't seem to matter.
@TechConnectify pretty standard in the UK for illegally parked vehicles (usually delivery vans) to be parked with hazards on and the pavement-side indicator obscured.
I understand what you're getting at but I wouldn't fault the design of the hazard flashers there. Be glad you can use them and know your brake lights still work! Over here, there's a 50/50 change the hazards flash the brake lights.
@steve it probably is misuse, but the point of hazards is sometimes you have to stop where it isn't safe. If your car has a major failure you stop where you can, turn those lights and and call a tow truck.
People abuse that to park where they shouldn't to deliver packages or whatever, which is the vast majority of the cases.
Every car here since forever ago has these and it's a good idea! It adds conspicuity at night and lets you gauge the size of the vehicle from any angle since you know where the front and rear are.
Imported models often didn't think about this requirement so their side-markers are VERY tacked-on.
Hyundai didn't exactly forget about it, but I'll nominate the Ioniq 5 as having the tiniest rear side markers of any car because they're adorable.
@TechConnectify I have the feeling most European cars have their rear light designed in a way to fulfill that task and they nowadays only swap out the front ones (which makes sense since there are often more differences).
But I'm still not a huge fan of the markers on passenger cars, don't reeeeeally see the benefit at night, don't see cars that often from the side and wonder how big they are.
Trucks and trailers (depending on their size) have them here too, across their length (which is useful)
@nicoduck wraparound taillights (and headlights when the front marker and signal bulb are combined) fulfil the requirement here so they don't necessarily have to be distinct lights.
But I'm honestly baffled as to why you think more conspicuity at night would be a bad thing. Sure, most of the time you're not going to be put in a situation where they're strictly necessary. But most of the time using turn signals isn't strictly necessary - you're probably not gonna cause a crash! But you might.
@TechConnectify I don't think more light is bad, but most (front and rear) lights also emit a bit to the side (in their respective) colour so I don't really see a need for a yellow side-marker when the already existing white light in the front emits enough light to the side to give a clue about the length of a car.
Still, wtf is a yellow (instead of white) front side-marker required but yellow turn signals aren't 🙈
The requirement here was more strictly necessary in the days of sealed-beam headlights and rear-firing tail lights. Generally it's met with wraparound designs, but if it's not a second light must be added.
We also require reflectors on the sides, too just like the marker lights. Red in rear, amber in front. In the case of the Ioniq 5, the front reflector is inside the headlight, and the rear reflector is at the bottom of the wheel arch.
@TechConnectify Aah, that makes sense.
Hmm reflectors, we only mandate them on the rear but that's basically it. Nothing on the side or the front (besides the reflective number plate).
I guess it's mainly because cars have to be parked on the right (so you see them from the back when approaching) and the houses are usually not spread far outside from villages?
Trailers on the other hand have to have reflectors on all 4 sides, even the smaller ones.
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