Originally Posted by
ItsJustMe
For me, brake lights for bikes are kind of silly anyway. It's not expected by the cars, so when they see it come on, it will NOT register to them that it's a brake light, so it'll be basically useless.
Besides, I run a Dinotte 140L even in daylight. I doubt anyone would even notice the brake light with that running. And even if it were wired up to a brake switch, would car drivers know that when it switched from slow strobe to steady on, that it mean I was braking?
Bottom line is that it's up to the cyclist to brake safely, and that means making sure that there isn't a car doesn't run you over, because they're going to be there and doing something stupid regardless of what lights you run.
I went ahead and added a brake light when I added turn signals since I was able to get a water proof red LED really cheap from the same source I bought the amber LED strobes that I used for the turn signals. I decided to add the turn signals because it really bothered me that many younger drivers didn't seem to understand hand signals and thought I was waiving when signaling a right hand turn. I have to say adding the signals has had a beneficial affect, although I'll admit that you don't have the level of aggressive driving where I live currently, maybe due to the fact that there's no real congestion on the roads. Since installing the turn signals and brake signal, when I start signaling a turn before reaching an intersection and when I'm stopped at a stop sign or light, cars give me wider berth. I know a lot of cyclists don't like the idea of signal lights, but it's been decades since cars were allowed to be sold without turn signals and brake lights and the blurb in driver's ed handbooks about hand signals doesn't seem to sink in since no one really has to use hand signals when driving any more.