From what I've read, it seems per the Vienna convention and NTSA/DOT all vehicles are required to have red brake lights and red rear facing running lights but turn signals can be either red or amber. Wikipedia shows a study that amber rear turn signals are more likely to be seen than red.

 

I have always read that red is one of the easiest colors to see.

 

YES! IMO 3 red lights on the back end will be easier to see. Also IMO 1 red & 2 amber's lighting up the rear could even be confusing. We're not use to seeing amber light up as brake lights. Going all red is the best & safest choice.

 

And the winner is PanHeadRich - a clear and simple answer.

 

Red is more visible. Take for example the premium European cars, the manufacturers did/do extensive testing, to include light wave length analysis, and as a result all of the rear aux fog-lights are red. Yes, European cars such as BMW, Mercedes, Saab, Volvo and VW have rear fog-lights on most of their models. That said, it appears by Delaware law that you can go either way legally. Here are two links that may be of interest to you:

http://www.dmv.de.gov/services/drive...quipment.shtml

http://www.wykedilluzionz.com/laws/

For anyone interested, the second link provides the lighting laws for most states.

After reading the Delaware DOT law, it appears that you might actually be able to legally run old school cool blue dots you lucky dog. It says anything between amber and red. That's a No Go here in Wisconsin, we have to run all red in the rear.

So, run all red in the rear my friend, you'll be seen better/farther. And that's my

 

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I've spent some time reading up on this, Wanting to learn more I've found this info on rear turn signal lighting.

Your statement above on ALL Euro rear fog lamps are red is not what I've found.

BMW rear fog lights are Orange not red, At least this link say's they are. The first line say's they are bright glowing Orange.
http://www.bmwtips.com/tipsntricks/R...g%20Lights.htm

Our own gov test don't agree with red is better on rear turn sigs (Read Below) The NHTSA shows the amber turn sigs, decrease accidents on the road.

Whole Link article below
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811115.PDF

The Effectiveness of Amber
Rear Turn Signals for Reducing
Rear Impacts

6. Abstract
This purpose of this report is to determine the effect of rear turn signal color on the likelihood of being involved in a rear-end crash.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 allows rear turn signals to
be either red or amber in color.

Previous work on this subject includes laboratory experiments and analyses of crash data that suggest amber rear turn signals are beneficial.

The present study was designed around the concept of “switch pairs” – make-models of passenger vehicles were identified that had switched rear turn signal color, and crash involvement rates were computed before and after the switch.

This method should control for extraneous factors related to vehicle and driver characteristics.

Crash data from NHTSA's State Data System was used in the analysis.

The principal finding of the report is that amber signals show a 5.3% effectiveness in reducing involvement in two-vehicle crashes where a lead vehicle is rear-struck in the act of turning left, turning right, merging into traffic, changing lanes, or entering/leaving a parking space.

The advantage of amber rear turn signals is shown to be statistically
significant.


17. Key Words
NHTSA; NCSA; State Data System; crash
avoidance; automotive lighting; turn signal color
1


Each to there own, plus we have to go by our State laws which seem to vary, Some only RED and some Amber or Red.

I think I'll keep my reg Brake/running light Red as from the factory but I am leaving the Amber bulbs in the Run/brake/turn with smoke lens on the rear turns as here in IND we can have either color RED or Amber,,.

 

I am running red.

Like Benway posted the info in your other thread, apparently the light bar on the Heritage is wide enough to run red turns.

Posting this for those searching dot stuff. Evidently the turns have to be a certain distance apart to run them with red lens. The following is a note from the install sheet for the heritage kit.

'05-later FLSTN models or models equipped with Bullet Turn Signal Bar Kit P/N 68615-04 or 68617-04. If installed on these models, the system will function properly but will not meet the DOT minimum separation requirements for a red tail light to red turn signal.)

 

Well, I stand corrected then. My sincere apologies to all; I thought I was being helpful, but I guess not. In a former life, I spent quite a few years as a AUDI, VW, and SAAB Brand Specialist and my comments were based on the training that I received from those German and Swedish manufacturers.

Since you're into researching the facts, I have a few questions. I noticed that the BMW Tips link that you provided was an after-the-sale mod that someone wrote up. How do they actually come from the factory? The cars I sold were all built in European factories and only had 1 red fog light located on the driver's side, never 2, and never amber. The idea was that by having 1 on the driver's side, or the road lane side in America (they switch it to the other in Europe) other drivers coming from behind would know your road position and not mistake it for a brake light as they also had a different intensity. Actual turn-signal lights could be amber or red depending on the model year, and of course the brake lights always red. But again, always from the factory the fog-light was a single red light on one side only.

Another question, in light of the 2009 NHSTA study that you found for us, why would some states mandate the color red then? Most be some reason? Maybe brake lights should be amber too. I did notice that your highlighted sentence, "The principal finding of the report is that amber signals show a 5.3% effectiveness in reducing involvement in two-vehicle crashes where a lead vehicle is rear-struck in the act of turning left, turning right, merging into traffic, changing lanes, or entering/leaving a parking space." mentions nothing about brake light function, only turn-signal function. Could it be that the 5.3% effectiveness increase is attributable to a blinking light (signal)rather than a steady-on (brake) light? Just a thought/question.

Anyways, I'll go away now. And, sorry everyone for causing confusion, spreading misinformation, and possibly hijacking this thread. After a lengthy self-imposed timeout sitting in the corner, I'll go for a ride on my red light equipped scoot and contemplate keeping my big nose out of such threads.

 

Hey Sweetbaboo All's good, me being retired/retarted?? and having plenty of time to research and look up things because I still like to learn.

The OP Did ask for help, opinions and or Reseach on which was more visible, Red or Amber lens. So we didn't Hi-jack it, we did what was asked.

Just expanded it alot


I have thought about before, when I first put in my R/B/S kit for the rear, it came with red lens that I put on, then later went back to the Amber ones.

But after I got the Smoked lens I didn't know which bulb to use, RED, Amber ????
Red bulbs are harder to find than Amber's and they are said to fade to Pink quickly.??

Looking at Cagers, All seem to have RED stop lights but some have RED and some have Amber Turn signals

As U said, even across the country the States don't agree on regulations.

Confussing that some States mandate only Red lights on the rear for turn sigs when 25% of the cars on the road comes from the factory with Amber ones.??

The OP Also asked if Red was better???

Heres what I found to answer that question after I did some more reading and research because I wanted to know myself.

Article below is from http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...1861.Eg.r.html

Human eyes sense lightwaves with sensors called rods and cones. The cones
sense color and the rods, which are the most sensitive sensors, sense faint
light but not color. Our eyes sense light slightly differently in darkness
than in daylight. In day light our eyes are most sensitive to green light,
they are slightly less sensitive to yellow and blue light, they are only one
half as sensitive to orange and lavender light and they are only one tenth
as sensitive to red and violet light.

Hmmmm Maybe we need Green turn sigs

Thus for viewing at a distance, a 100 watt green light bulb can be seen
about 3 times farther than a red or violet bulb of the same light power.

In darkness the eyes maximum sensitivity shifts toward yellow-green
wavelengths with the other colors staying at about the same sensitivity as
stated above.

Thus red is the worst color for seeing at a distance.
You can observe this on a clear dark night from a hilltop looking at distant traffic signals.

The yellow light will be brightest, the green light (which is slightly blue)
will be seen almost as bright and the red light will be quite dim. For the
same reason, on newer cars with yellow turn indicators, you will notice
that they are much brighter than the red turn indicators on older cars.
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OK I am done reading, researching, and this thread.....
I feel I've learned what I wanted to and just wanted to pass this on to others..

Now use whatever lens color or bulbs U like in Ur smoked covers or in most/some cases what Ur State Law makes U use..

I also glad the OP didn't ask about all the diff LED;s lights he can add on.. Whole nother thread.


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Thanks to everyone who replied and shared their input and research.