Third Brake Light?

[Corvanti]

when i had my Avanti, it already had a 3rd brake light installed. i don't know where it came from, but it looked "generic". i did put in a brighter LED lamp though.

i was also going to make rear brake lights/turn signals, etc. on the back-up lamps similar to some Avanti II's. but instead of using red lenses, i was going to use red LED lamps and leave the lenses clear. never got a-round-tuit...

Joe, i'm not sure i'd go as far as the LED bar you're talking about. but from the ones i've seen, it would certainly get folk's attention - especially at night!

[skyway]

Put a lot of miles on my Wagonaire, so maybe I'm not as big a 'fraidy cat as I think, but those cars need more
brake light and high on either side would be a great place to put it.

[rockne10]

I mounted a JC Whitney third light to my '63 Cruiser--which I no longer have. Mounting a light with double-sided tape and running an extra wire to the brake harness makes no unalterable change and, forty years of driving professionally has taught me I cannot rely on the driving attention of others.

[Swifster]

Not worthless if You drive an Avanti! Those cute little Avanti tailights are hard to see at night. (worse on a bright day) A bright 3rd brakelight in the rear window is an absolute MUST if one wants to mix-it-up with other traffic!!!!! If Your Avanti never leaves the garage except to be loaded onto a car trailer....leave it alone. I'm talking about 'REAL WORLD' driving here!

Traffic went 85 years without them. A CHMSL won't keep a tailgating driver from hitting you from behind. A CHMSL won't keep a distracted driver from hitting you from behind. Rear end collisions still occur. People believe they can tailgate because the car has ABS or 4 wheel disc brakes. I've NEVER heard anyone say, "Thank goodness I saw the other car's CHMSL! I would have hit him without it..." As for 'REAL WORLD' driving, I'm an insurance appraiser. Most of the damages I see are front-to-rear collisions. You could put large signs saying "DON'T HIT ME!" in large neon colors and a distracted, tailgating driver will still find you.

[Lenny R2]

On my 63 Avanti i instalied a led 3rd brake light &the red lens in the back up
light frames with 1157 bulbs.When i step on the brake they are all bright

[Swifster]

By the way, have you hit a semi truck, or a dump truck? Large trucks do not have CHMSLs and I would suggest they never will. Unless someone is tailgating or completely distracted, odds are a driver won't hit one. And yet it's hard to find a 'Mansfield' bar on a large truck that hasn't seen some abuse.

Look, you money, your car. Do what you need to do to make yourself 'feel' safe. Every car since 1986 has a CHMSL. When these first came out, the government said that these decrease rear end collisions by 50%. After roughly 30 years, now they say it's less than 4%. I would rather invest my money in seat belts and other tangible items that do save lives. CHMSLs isn't one of those items.

[Swifster]

One other thing. If you REALLY want your car to be safe, install the following;

Dual Master Cylinder
4 Wheel Disc Brakes
Anti-Lock Brakes
3 or 4 Point Seat Belts - Front & Rear
Collapsible Steering Column
Side Beam Impact Bars
Dual Mirrors
Safety Back Up Camera
Head Rests - Front & Rear
Fuel Shut Off Inertia Switch (For cars with Electric Pumps)
LED Tail Lamp Bulbs
Halogen Headlamps
Tire Pressure Sensors
Daytime Running Lamps
Retroreflective Strips
Paint Your Car White or Silver
4 Way Hazard Flashers

All of these will do more to save your lives than a CHMSL. Am I going to add these items to my car? NO! I might do a few. Dual master cylinders, dual mirrors, 4 way flashers, and maybe head rests. I might even do the 3 point seat belts. A CHMSL? Nope...

[JoeHall]

Thanks for all the input folks. Looks like more folks than I figured are running them.

I just bought one off ebay. Its an aluminum billet type; sits 1.5" high on a fully adjustable pedestal; is 3/4" tall, and 7" wide. It also has a feature that one side will flash with the turn signal, and the other side stays lit as long as the brake is on.

Guess I'll mount it in the rear window, along the back edge or the rear seat speaker.

I don't know about accident reduction statistics, but I consider it as a supplement to a marginal lighting system on the rear of the car.

[gordr]

Remember that the CHMSL was introduced at a time when many cars had their tail/stop lamps mounted quite low. Didn't Chevelle have tail lamps in the bumper at one time? The idea was to ensure cars had a stop lamp close to the eye level of a following motorist. That's why I made the quip about the Wagonaire. Its tail lamps ARE at eye level for the following driver.

[JoeHall]

By the way, have you hit a semi truck, or a dump truck? Large trucks do not have CHMSLs and I would suggest they never will. Unless someone is tailgating or completely distracted, odds are a driver won't hit one. And yet it's hard to find a 'Mansfield' bar on a large truck that hasn't seen some abuse.

Look, you money, your car. Do what you need to do to make yourself 'feel' safe. Every car since 1986 has a CHMSL. When these first came out, the government said that these decrease rear end collisions by 50%. After roughly 30 years, now they say it's less than 4%. I would rather invest my money in seat belts and other tangible items that do save lives. CHMSLs isn't one of those items.

Thanks for the info, but I am just ignorant and cannot help myself. Anyway, it only cost around $50 and hopefully will only take about an hour to install.

[SN-60]

Traffic went 85 years without them. A CHMSL won't keep a tailgating driver from hitting you from behind. A CHMSL won't keep a distracted driver from hitting you from behind. Rear end collisions still occur. People believe they can tailgate because the car has ABS or 4 wheel disc brakes. I've NEVER heard anyone say, "Thank goodness I saw the other car's CHMSL! I would have hit him without it..." As for 'REAL WORLD' driving, I'm an insurance appraiser. Most of the damages I see are front-to-rear collisions. You could put large signs saying "DON'T HIT ME!" in large neon colors and a distracted, tailgating driver will still find you.

I simply feel that a common sense, extremely easy to install safety item, as a rear window brake light certainly is, CAN'T be a bad idea! (I also am a licensed insurance appraiser, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)

[Gunslinger]

The Feds didn't make the requirement for a third brake light until after a long test by a New York City cab company demonstrated that their cars (which pile up huge mileage from so much use) cut rear-end collisions by a large amount. That saved them money from less down time and far fewer insurance claims. I can see that as in NYC it's quite easy to not see standard brake lights...especially if low mounted. Traffic is so tight the high mounted light can be seen when others can't.

My own experience was several years ago when at a body shop checking on my Avanti which was there at the time, one of their techs stopped me when leaving saying my brake lights on both right and left sides weren't working. He said the high mounted brake light did, which drew his attention to it. He changed the bulbs gratis for me...nice thing to do since I felt I was supporting their shop with the work being done on the Avanti. I always said Christmas bonuses there must have been quite good due to me.

[Swifster]

Look, I'm not trying to get into a large argument about this. I've said my peace. I just think that the CHMSL is just a placebo. Again, not my car and not my money.

[Mark L]

For drivers who take the time to periodically check their brake lights to make sure they work, having a 3rd light won't make much difference for the other drivers, since most of the lights will be working.

But I've seen so many drivers who don't take care of their cars, or show their disrespect for other drivers by not making their intentions visible (stopping, turning). For those kind of drivers, requiring an extra brake light on their cars sure helps the rest of us.

Mark L

[3rdGenStude]

Funny this thread should come up. A few days ago, I was thinking how bad the aluminum trim panel looks on my GT, and if I was REALLY good with sheet metal work (I'm not!) maybe I could take two of SI's custom Stude pickup truck taillights, lay them on their sides, and cut them into the recessed area of the GT trunk lid, and smooth out the bottom of the recess like a '64 GT lid. Kind of like some Cadillac full width trunk lid CHMSL's.

Paul (who probably took too many "custom" parts from 1/24th scale models to make his own designs as a child)