In NL most expensive cars don't have them (a costly extra!) 😂. Like not having any brand or type letters on the boot. They usually also appear to come without mirrors or speedometer.
as a former BMW owner, I feel I must set things straight. BMW owners aren't rude douchebags who don't believe in signals... it's that the indicators, like everything else on a German car, stop working three days after you buy it.
Side indicators are very useful. Imagine a 3 or more lane road. You're passing a vehicle in the centre lane and then intend to move in to that lane, ahead of it. At the same time a vehicle alongside you in the inside lane decides to move out to the centre lane to occupy the same space as your are moving in to. The side indicator warns you of this. I have seen happen a few times .
I call it bs, side indicators are fir better visibility from side on crossroads etc when front and back indicators are not visible. On highway you will not see them anyway if car is next to you, it's physically impossible.
@@c_n_bThey would be in the wrong, yes but if you're in their blind spot and didn't know you were there, you can at least spot their indicators and warn them with the sound of the horn to let them know, "hey buddy, I'm alongside you pay attention." I've had to do it a handful of times.. Is it going to benefit everyone every day? No, but you're glad of the times you had that indication that they were going to make a move, so that you had time to prevent anything from happening. Prevention is better than the cure.
@@wykydytron If you're in a position where your front passenger window is alongside their taillights, you're in their blind spot. Their taillights are no longer in your field of view, but their side markers are in your peripheral vision and you can see them, even if you're focused on the road ahead. They're not for one thing or the other, but they're helpful in both situations of being alongside someone on 2 or 3 lane road, and also at a crossroad or traffic lights system.
I thought side indicators were more for pedestrians that can't see the back or front of the car? Probably not important in the USA is they don't walk and also don't Jay Walk.
The side indicators have massively reduced collisions where people pull right into the side of an overtaking car in their blind spot, particularly at highway speeds when they might not hear your horn. It gives the overtaking car the warning necessary to brake and avoid the collision.
strange. don't use them in europe and highway accidents are very uncommon and certainly not provoked by the absence of side indicators also known as marker lights, which are not used in common day vehicles owned by common people but just in larger vehicles like semis. They can also be mandated to use light reflection stickers to make them more visible mainly during nighttime, foggy or heavy rain/snow weather. Oh ofc, there's side indicators but merged with the mirror, more visible and friendlier to cyclists and motor bikes riders. Used as turn signals, orange as the rear and frontal ones because they're seen as part of the whole turning system. Using the same color to turn and break is mental, imo... guess that's why us vehicles side indicators are orange, couldn't have done it all wrong - praise Jesus!!!.
Much of the problem stems from the all the tacky doo-dad background images and overly-styled fonts. "Clean' license plate designs, like Texas, are vastly easier to read. Those hayseed hick states in the Midwest are the worst, with plates that are effectively chintzy hotel paintings of barns and silos with numbers screened on them. They're almost impossible to read while the car is parked.
Yeah the whole argument is ridiculous.. licence plates arent supposed to be a piece of fashion equipment.. its an important identification plate both for police and private people to be able to easily identify the car not to enjoy how beautiful it is or not
"the side blinker" is more useful than you think. it means from almost any angle you can always see TWO flashing lights. People have "blind spots" when they are driving/pulling out into traffic etc etc and if one of them is out of sight and the other one is either partially obscured or you missed it... there it is - "the side blinker" Years of research has proven them to be an important safety feature
@@THE-THATCH the study was made in eu so its useless in us with that to much "space" in the city/parking lots and even the streets why they even use blinkers there thats a mistery
When I first came across US cars a while ago, my first reaction was how bad the build quality was compared to European and Japanese cars. They looked like a bunch of parts bolted together, rather than a integrated whole.
American cars were awful back in the 80s and 90s, but there are many American cars today that I think are as good or superior to European cars. Certainly better designed when it comes to ease of maintaining and repairing.
The Netherlands and the UK are unique in Europe for having yellow rear number plates. As you can see her, the Netherlands also has a yellow front plate but the UK has white. White plates are almost universal in Europe and it's easy to recognise Dutch vehicles because the rear numberplate format is very different from the UK. I live not far from the south coast ferry ports so we see a fair few Dutch lorries.
@@missharry5727 Yes, you can recognize them (apart from the L in the blue bit) by the fact that the amount of characters on the plates is a lot smaller than on the Dutch ones (which are always 6 characters, grouped in three groups seperated by dashes) and also use a different font. They also are grouped together in one group.
@@missharry5727 Denmark have yellow plates also but only on select types and on top has a combined plate which is 20% yellow and 80% white to indicate that it's commercial but with taxes so it can be used privately
Side blinkers and mirror blinkers think more cyclist or motorbike/scooter. They are the ones most likely to be between the front and back of a car and concerned if its going to turn.
Our cars had to evolve a lot faster due to the increased competition between manufacturers across Europe, plus our cars are not just about straight-line speed, our cars are good at turning too and have a higher build quality. You have made good strides to improve handling but have a long way to go
I remeber very well when Minis and Cortinas were beating the US made tanks easily on the track as the US made cars were only made to go in a straight line and the suspensions wre far inferior.
The side indicators are very beneficial to cyclists in slow traffic, or if the car indicating fails to see you as they pull across into your lane... of course ALWAYS using one's indicators has to be part of disciplined driving for this to work well.
For example a German licenseplate has a D for Deutschland, up to 3 letters for the city/area, state symbol, a inspection symbol, 2 random letters and up to 4 random numbers.
Been watching you for a couple of years now and love your content. As a Brit I can't lie, we have a pretty low opinion of the general intellect of our American cousins and I think you really save that... I know that's really patronising but it's the truth
I think they started putting a third brake lights on cars in north america is because people couldnt tell that a car was braking sonetimes. Im sure you provably notice the side signals on the mirrors more then you realize.
The original purpose of the high-level, 3rd brake light was so that you could it see through the back window of the car(s) in front of you and have more warning of slowing traffic ahead. Hasn't stopped people driving too close and too fast, though.
The small yellow licence plate is not from New York, it's Dutch. Hey imported the car and the car doesn't have enough room for a European style plate, so it's allowed to apply for a smaller one, U.S. size! ✌🏼
The Netherlands is one of the few countries in the EU that make US-sized license plates. In Germany and the UK, they use smaller plates that are issued to motorcycles. Belgium's license plates are small are usually fit US cars.
I especially find the side turning lights very helpful on crowdy roundabouts where there are three lanes or even more, sometimes people make a big mess of these roundabouts and there are always cars next to you. It's then good to know what is about to happen in the coming seconds so that you can anticipate directly or use the horn to warn someone if it really looks like there's going to be a collision.
EU plates have to be readable for police but also to park. You can register at your work place or shopping center or hotel or private parking lot. The computer system will automatically identify you to allow you to enter and/or pay your parking place if you link it to a credit car. Same thing if you dont respect the parking time. In France, in big cities, you have cars with scans that go through the streets and automatically read the plates and check in the database the time you reserved and paid the place on the parking meter (horodateur in french). If you do not respect, you will automatically receive a ticket at home 😅 If your plate is not readable, you get a ticket. I dont know how it is in the US.
I must admit having lived in Canada for 8 years the whole "one light bulb doing three jobs" was a real mystery .It was sometimes difficult to work out what on earth the person in front was trying to do .Another issue was that many cars had an indicator speed that was so slow that you could hardly work out what they were doing .Indicators are supposed to "blink"at a speed that is clear that a turn is happening ,if they appear"stuck" its not that helpful . I had bought a Ford Escape with orange indicators as i knew they were safer than plain red.i was amazed the next year that Ford replaced the escape and the lights went from orange /red/red (indicators/brake/tail lights) to one cluster where one bulb did all three .Hardly an improvement . Also I dont think US/Canada cars come with reflectors that European cars have ,ie a light unit with no bulb but reflects when a light shines on it .Helpful if the bulbs are out on the tail lights ,or the car is parked at night on the road.
red indicator lights confuse the hell out of me. what makes perfect sense to me is you have 3 shades on the car for lights/plates. the front is white. if you see white lights/number plates (including the reverse light), the object is moving towards you. the back is red/dark (not white) colours (uk number plates bing yellow), if all you see is red lights the car is moving away from you. orange means a car is changing its direction of travel, or in the case of 2 indicators at the same time its hazards are on. very simple
The additional EU turnindicators are intended for bicyclists etc. in city traffic situations. Those situations of car vs. bicycle are not common in USA/Canada and therefore might not make sense for Americans. Have an American drive around in Amsterdam for a day and they'll get it too.
That side blinker system on EU vehicles is a really big life saver, once you get used to it you never want to go back. You need to adapt your speed and indicate ahead of time before even moving sideways (to another lane) or braking. It's saver and you let the people behind you know what you wish to do. It makes far more sense. Now for trucks (cargo trucks, not pickup trucks. We don't have those that much in the Netherlands) you will see more often mirrors being replaced by camera's. This because they can also show you what's going on in the night (some form of night vision is added) This means you have several screen inside your car. 1 on each A-frame pillar and a 3rd either in the center or above the right mirror camera screen. And you can get one for up front so you can see if someone is standing there or if you have space enough to turn. I'm not sure if this is already being added to cars as well as it's a fairly new thing in recent years. However it would be amazing to see this feature on passenger cars as well as it would increase safety and takes less drag during driving.
About the side turn signals, it happened to me today. I was on the highway passing a car and his side light came on. He was signaling he'd move to my lane, to pass the car in front of him. I knew right away he didn't notice me and would cause an accident. I was able to move to the lane on my left avoiding the accident. I would probably not be able to notice it if he turned to my lane with no warning.
The side indicators save lives. To get to work I have to cross 4 lanes of a highway at around 70mph and being able to see if someone if going to move over left into the same lane that I want to move over right into is a good thing for both cars.
about the side indicators, if you're on a 3 lane motorway, you're in the right most lane, and some other car is in the left most lane and you're side by side. now you want to take the middle lane and so does the other guy, you can tell from the side that he is indicating and wait for him to do so. this avoids both of you going to the middle lane, side by side, at the same time because you could see that he was indicating and intending to go into the middle lane. also we dont have a lot of 90 degree turns our streets here in the eu is a lot more free form and sometimes you cant see the indicators in the head lights and the side indicators really help with that
I am from the UK and if you follow someone in the rain with their rear fog lights on at night it makes your visibility worse as your all the rain on your windscreen glows bright red
@@4486igi I'm not sure about the legal rules in the other european countries but in Germany you may use the rear fog lights ONLY in fog and only at a vivbility of 50m (about 55 yards) or less! But you often see the lights at just more than a drizzle while they drive at 100km/h on the autobahn. The required distance between cars is 50 m at that speed and yes those lamps are blinding in this distance especially if it starts to get dark. Remenber: a normal taillight is 5W, a fog light has 15W and usually a real reflector. That is the same light most mopeds or small scooters use a headlights ! - (talking about old fashioned light bulbs, not LED).
The side indicator is important if you're passing and just moving out of a driver's blind spot you've gone passed where you can see their rear indicators. If they haven't checked properly they're going to go into you.
Huge, not mentioned difference in spec are headlights. In US these are symmetrical, increasing the risk of blinding the car comning from your front. EU one are asymetrical, with left side only illuminating other cars well below bottom side of window, while right part is gradually going up, better illuminating side of the road, without blinding the car on the other side of the road. Another difference is that EU allows matrix type of light - segmented LED lights illuminating parts of the road according to road situation (highlighting as much as possible, but where there is no other car). So you can drive permanently on high beam. US does not allow these lights at all. This is huge safety feature and these systems become gradually more and more complex. Top of the line have tens of thousends of individual elements, not only allowing selective illumination, but also being used to display some additional information on the street, in front of driver (highlighting sides of the road, giving sign of pedestrians on the side, displaying speed limits or navigational data).
one more thing about lights, US cars do not have auto height adjustment. While its required in EU if the power of the headlamp is higher than specified limit (xenons, LEDs). So after you load the stuff in the trunk of the European car, lights are adjusted to the correct height and are not blinding other vehicles. If I put a lot of stuff in the trunk in my car in US, my lights are facing just straight.
The side turn light is an essential safety feature because when you are in the other guys' blindspot, just past their rear light, you will also be in the visible blind spot of both of their head and rearlights, so if they decide to signal lane change while not spotting you, you'll know you need to break or swerve. Side blinkers are a must!
The side turn signals you were confused about is mainly from the Netherlands, where they make you a gap when you need to shuffle through lanes to get to exit or something when the traffic is heavy.
If you are on a motorcycle and the car has not seen you, you can prevent an accident if the car bothers to indicate before you are run over. This is something that happens often.
With the turn signals it's extra confusing when European manufacturers decide to make a separate style for the US market. Ambers are allowed but apparently focus groups in the US hate amber turn signals. I think it looks nicer, not necessarily with amber glass but no one has that anymore.
I used to work for a Limo company in the UK, which imported stretched Hummer H2s from the US and had to make them comply to UK/EU law. The crazy thing was that they had amber indicators from the factory, but they still had to be replaced because they did not have the right EU approval markings. The same thing applied to all the lights and all the window glass.
Turn indicators on the side have moved up to the wing mirrors. That's 3 amber lights flashing to turn left or right or 6 in all for hazard breakdown lights.
In a lot of European countries, especially in big cities. You will encounter bicycle lanes next to the road and mirrors indicators help the bicycle 🚲 rider to see if the car might turn right into the bicycle rider going straight
6:00 the side repeater indicator is great when a car is turning out of a side road and/or a roundabout. Makes it much more visible which way they're going. It helps. Maybe it helps a little on a motorway/freeway when you're passing someone too.
Aussie here just relating to turn and brake lights. We have 2. Our turn signal is flashing amber above the solid red brake light. Both lights are same size. Theyre easily distinguishable between the 2. I agree the side mounted turn signal doesnt make sense. If Im next to a car that wants to turn / move over in front of or behind me they shouldnt be doing that til theres space in front of or behind me.
I have a 13 year old Ford Focus which has indicators on the mirrors, and they are way better than the wing/fender indicator. Front number plates in the UK have a white background and the rear has a yellow background, and the letters and numbers are visible at a longer distance, that's the point.
I feel the side indicators are most useful in the city. At traffic lights or intersections, a car might be partially concealed by other vehicles hoods, trunks, bikes, whatever. The signals in the higher position help.
They used to be that way in the UK once. When I was a child, we had a 1954 Ford Consul mk 1, which had white indicators on the front and red on the rear, but it was one of the last to be made that way, later versions changed to amber all round. Don't forget, this was the early days of flashing indicators, many cars of that era still had semaphore arms.
On the topic of red rear indicator lenses being more asthetically cohesive: French cars have had red rear indicator lenses that produce orange light since at least the 1970's. You can have entirely red rear lights and produce red, amber and white light with good lense design - the old Peugeot 406 from the 1990's and 2000's managed it.
UK front black on white Rear black on yellow Standardised character sizes Background reflective so are highlighted in the dark Can tell which way car was facing in accident Can't change spacing of characters
5:00 Those Sidemarkers are very helpful . Ever experienced a Car on a property exit in the Dark? The Headlights are mostly not Visible from your Angle of View. Add a few Street Lamps to the Situation, and you even dont see the cone of light from the Headlights on the Street.
Some UK spec vehicles have 2 fog lamps at the rear (some just one) - my last car had 2 my current car one - and it is newer - some also have front fog lamps because high beams just reflect - not standard - my current car doesn't, but higher spec models in the range do - again my last car did have. (Apart from the obvious RHD - there are sometimes differences between UK spec and EU spec, but not as pronounced as those.
The side turn signal is more useful in slow traffic, when people are trying to filter into your lane. You can slow and let them in if you know their intention, if it is appropriate.
If you are driving on a road with 3 lanes and the guy in the far right lane wants to change the lane to the middle one (and in the EU he has priority), and you want to change from the far left lane to the middle side turn signal is a great solution. If it wasn't there, you could enter the middle lane at the same moment, causing a collision. The side indicator is also an additional indicator when the others are somehow covered or we are positioned at an unlucky angle. Additionally, it is also useful for long vehicles, buses, etc. Such vehicles often have more than one side turn signal.
side blinker is additional safety measure if for some reason (reflection of sun, temporary burned bulb, part of other vehicle) one of main blinkers is not visible..also mirrors here in europe in new cars have amber dot flashing when you have vehicle in blind spot (is connected to blind spot sensor).
Side indicators are a good feature becuase you can see when someone intends to turn or chnage lanes really quick were all used to it now and I'm sure if you moved to Europe you would learn to appreciate it you see them out of your peripheral they are really bright in poor weather night time or low visibility it just helps reduce the likelihood of an accident as intent is shown and understood in seconds.
One thing I want to add regarding Fender Mount Signals is when you’re passing said Car and he/she is signaling to change into your lane. Gives you the notion that you better pass them now before they end up sideswiping you in the process. Passing Cars on the Highway, I pay close (VERY close) attention to the Adjacent Car that I pass. Because you CANNOT guarantee that they know you’re right beside them regardless, especially with the incompetency of US Drivers. The Side/Fender Signals can actually save your Hide. I always love the cross comparisons between EUDM (Euro), KDM (Korean) and JDM (Japanese) variants of several Vehicles we have here in the US. Take the Mazda Miata for example: known almost worldwide and have different variations based on specific Global/Regional Markets.
Texas gives you a choice of white-on-black or black-on-white plates. it's a clean design and easy-to-read. Fun fact: US license plate size wasn't standardized until around 1957 or 1958. Arizona was the last state to use to use a non-standard size.
Have you ever thought the safety features for people outside/ not driving the car? The mirror indicator is just one example. The biggest safety issue in the US is the lack of mandatory inspections/MOT. Every older car has to pass a yearly official inspection in order to be allowed to use that car. If you miss your time frame or do not have at least made a reservation for the inspection, you got a nice fine and the police takes your plates off and you are not allowed to drive. Only back home or straight to the inspection garage.
Side blinker does not make sense. You can see when a car is coming towards you. Side blinker on the mirror is very helpful and even more visible than normal ones, especially on parking lots when a car is coming towards you.
I do agree that 95% of the time side blinker isn't necessary, but it is extremely helpful when the car next to you (or you) wants to merge in, can also be helpful at crossroads
In the UK and I'm not a driver but I'm sure here it's a legal requirement to have a white license plate at the front while the back is yellow with both black text. You can get fined for having 2 the same colour. Someone correct me if I'm wrong please.
He only gave one example where a side blinker is useful. There are many others where a side blinker is definitely useful and a definite safety feature.
Apart from Ford Mustangs and some Jeeps you rarely see an American car in Europe. I used a Cadillac Esplanade for a couple of years. It was ridiculous but did raise a smile with onlookers.
@@charlottehardy822 European Fords are really different cars than American ones, there are only a few identical models for both markets such as the Mustang, Ranger, Bronco and Mach-e.
the side turn signals are a must here because you have pedestrians that might be looking at the car or we have a merge in turn road two lanes will become one and you need to be aware in advance.
7:56 me being German have to say that by law REAR fog lights are only to be used if visibility is less than 50m, approx. 10 cars or 4 standard EU semitrucks.
you do not see the necessity to see whether someone next to you wants to switch lanes, because you guys mostly stay within the same lane anyway. In Europe, we are required to drive on the right-most lane and to switch to the middle or left lane only for as long as we want to pass another car. Hence, we change lanes a lot - often in dense traffic - and it is key to know what everyone around you is doing to keep sane and safe… Also, rather frequently, you may have a truck in front of you on the right and a car next to you on the right. The truck may block your view of cars wanting to merge into that lane. But the person right next to you will see them! So, if they indicate they want to move into your lane to make room for a car wanting to merge in that you may not even have seen yet, gives you the opportunity to speed up, slow down or change lanes to the left to make room for the car next to you so they can make room for the car wanting to merge in…
Side indicators fave saved me from an accident before, when you slighly behind a another car in either its blind spot or when the other driver dosnt check mirrors properly. They give you a bit longer to either sound the horn or take evasive action to avoid them coming into contact with you vehicle.
side "amber lights" is used other to see you when you entering on another street...they works like highway signs...other car headlights make it visible for them, so they dont hit u in the night
Those side blinkers are useful in multiple ways. First, it's proven that other drivers notice the blinkers more if there are side blinkers, but it also makes it more visible to cyclists and walkers and unlike the US there is a lot more thought put in to safety of people outside the car.
Yes, I agree, blind spots had nearly killed me. I always buy cars with largest window, and I never rely only on the mirrors anymore, you had to lock back.
As a pedestrian, the side indicators are useful, as I can see more clearly if a vehicle I'm walking along side of, is about to turn into a road I'm going to cross.
For side blinkers i'd say that those situations are rarer because of the size of the roads, in Europe roads are smaller and you'll be a lot more exposed to close encounters with cars at +60mph you have to take decisions fast some times because of the speed and proximity with cars so you'll be in situations where you want to change lanes in parallel more often and its important to see if an other car wants your spot on the lane as early as possible because by the time you started changing lane its likely too late to come back, you have to commit
An interesting video. One thing I noticed about the Dutch car is that the number plates are the same colour front and back. In the UK the rear plates are yellow but the front plates are white. This is actually done so a quick glance shows whether you are looking at the front or back of a car in bad weather!
In the Netherlands we have another way to detect if you're looking at the front of back of a car. The font side has white lights, the rear side has red lights. No need to stare at a licence plate for that.
Don't be silly, not behind but side on, if a car wants to change lane, without the side mirror indicator, who knows. I can't see your rear or front indicator. It just makes its obvious for all, so general safety I think. Stop being defensive, just think of private health care v public health care... U.S right or wrong? I'll say no more. Cheers.
The side indicators are useful, imagine you and another car are driving side by side doing the same speed, with an empty lane between both of you. Then you and the other driver decide at the same moment to move to that empty lane, he because he probably just finished overtaking a car on that lane and you want to start overtaking someone in front of you, or you're going to merge from a ramp. The side indicator lets you know that the other car has the same intention and you can slow down a bit to let him move first and prevents side swiping each other. Could be useful especially in the US where it is not a general rule to stay in the rightmost lane until you start overtaking someone and go back after finishing overtaking, so cars at equal speeds in several lanes side by side are even more common there.
Scenario: three lane road; you are in the left lane and another is directly beside you but in the right lane. You want to change to the center lane. This is when you and the car beside you need that communication.
The high-level side indicators (or turn signals, if you want to call them that) are also extremely useful and safer for cyclists to understand what a passing car intends to do. That said, you rarely have cyclists in the US, so....🤷♂
Side blinkers allow you to see if a car is coming into your lane whilst being in the cars blind spot. He may not see you. But you will see him and react. I have been on both ends of this kind of situation.
The side indicator there is two features in one. One when you are making a turn the mirror blink, BUT there is another feature in new cars, when you have a car in 'blind spot' or coming behind you that you cannot see, there is indication in side of the (both have individual indicator, for the current side) mirror reclection like small arrow or spot in orange indicating the there is a car in your blind spot that is the most best thing. You see the indication inside of you mirror without moving your head that okay there is a car in a blind spot.. If you have never seen it I understand, but When you drive on highway, and fist time realize then okay orange light/arrow in (inside the side mirror)the mirror like a lightning from a clear sky. . when a car have 'sneked' in to the blind spot when you could not see it coming they you realize Dang how good this system is!! you can focus on driving the car and looking ahead instead of having to turn you head and wonder if there are cars on the side or not.
Brake lights and turn signals are safety features, the better you can make them work, the safer the driving experience will be. It doesn't matter how good they look just use the safest one.
In the UK licence/registration plates are purely designed and formatted to be readable at a significant distance by other road users/general public/police/vehicle tax and insurance status cameras etc. Aesthetic considerations are not important. Also the front plate always has a white background and the rear a yellow one so others can quickly at a glance which direction a vehicle is travelling/facing particularly in low visibilty conditions.
Also when I took my test 44 years ago before I even got in the car I had to be able to read the license plate at distance. Don’t know if this is still part of the test.
I estimate I've needed that side indicator about 20 times in my life, which isn't many, but it's 20 times I averted a crash because someone indicated they were moving into my car. It's incredibly useful to know other driver's intentions.
Fun fact about the GERMAN version of the license plates: They are all set up like: *AA : BB-123* (Bold black letters on reflective white ground) *AA* being a short for the city/county htey are registered in. "F" being Frankfurt, "B" for Berlin, "M" for Munich, "AA" for Aachen, WI for Wiesbaden... So you always know where a car is from. *BB* is 2-3 letters which can be chosen by he owner (companies often use their initials i.e.) *123* - up to 4 numbers, again, can be choosen by the owner (companies often number their cars 1,2,3,...)
The GERMAN version has the format AAA-BB 1234 (E), AAA can be 1 to 3 letters for city or department where the car is registrated, BB can be 1 to 2 letters only and can be choosen by owner If available, but not each combination is allowed. 1234 are up to 4 numbers, can be choosen by owner If available. (E) without brackets is optional for EV/PHEV cars. Since 2022 licence plates can be kept on car even the car is leaving aera of first registration area.
@04:00 Becuase it's the way your dad's car looked. There are people in america today, who won't let go of 8-track players in cars. They like tradition. That is why the cars still look like they do. You can buy an acessory for the c-column, that is supposed to be reminiscent of the folding mechanism on the fabric canopy, people had on their horse buggies two hundred years ago.
Actually the biggest difference for a long time was headlight technology - but I believe this is no longer true. Due to very strict rule of having fixed headlight in the US there were no adaptive headlights (turning the light beam left/right along with the steering) and active high beam assist - which was able to cut out all the vehicles from the high-beam, enabling using high-beam even in heavy traffic without blinding anyone. This was available elsewhere since 2010 but was allowed only recently in the US.
Side blinker, especially in the mirror, is great for visibility. Guard rails and things may block the lower one and you can't see if they are turning right. Where I live there is a bridge right next to the intersection where the residential road connects to the main road. The guard rail is taller than regular on the bridge. If I had to wait for the cars lower front blinker I'd have to wait a lot longer before I could enter the road. Main road obviously has priority so I have to yield and wait to see if cars from the left are turning into my street or not. This is obviously not a case in the US where priority road is not a thing and yield signs are rare. We also have the right before left rule here.
Regarding the signs on the mirrors, I do understand it.....but you have to remember that the BMW in the video is on the left hand, giving the impression it's in the fast lane. Maybe you'll have the BMW driver wanting to get out onto a slower lane (for exit etc). Of course it could be the car on his right telling him to make a gap. Happens all the time in Germany.
Minute 7:03 - You are next me, just on my right. I see your signal that you want to turn left, so I know that I must go ahead to let you turn "behind me" or I have to slow down and let you turn left ahead of me. This choice is made also looking at your intention, but it's important to know that you're pretty early need to get in my same lane, ahead or behind me
The irony of highlighting turn signals on a BMW 😂
In NL most expensive cars don't have them (a costly extra!) 😂. Like not having any brand or type letters on the boot. They usually also appear to come without mirrors or speedometer.
as a former BMW owner, I feel I must set things straight. BMW owners aren't rude douchebags who don't believe in signals... it's that the indicators, like everything else on a German car, stop working three days after you buy it.
@@yossarian6799 😂 won’t be long until you need to pay a subscription for the indicators
The most common mistake BMW owners make is that they forget to fill up the turn signal oil.
@@yossarian6799so you are not able to keep your own car in working conditions after 2 days? And you want to tell me you are not stupid?😂
Side indicators are very useful. Imagine a 3 or more lane road. You're passing a vehicle in the centre lane and then intend to move in to that lane, ahead of it. At the same time a vehicle alongside you in the inside lane decides to move out to the centre lane to occupy the same space as your are moving in to. The side indicator warns you of this. I have seen happen a few times .
I call it bs, side indicators are fir better visibility from side on crossroads etc when front and back indicators are not visible. On highway you will not see them anyway if car is next to you, it's physically impossible.
In that scenario the person in the slower lane would be in the wrong. What makes you think they would indicate?
@@c_n_bThey would be in the wrong, yes but if you're in their blind spot and didn't know you were there, you can at least spot their indicators and warn them with the sound of the horn to let them know, "hey buddy, I'm alongside you pay attention." I've had to do it a handful of times.. Is it going to benefit everyone every day? No, but you're glad of the times you had that indication that they were going to make a move, so that you had time to prevent anything from happening.
Prevention is better than the cure.
@@wykydytron If you're in a position where your front passenger window is alongside their taillights, you're in their blind spot. Their taillights are no longer in your field of view, but their side markers are in your peripheral vision and you can see them, even if you're focused on the road ahead. They're not for one thing or the other, but they're helpful in both situations of being alongside someone on 2 or 3 lane road, and also at a crossroad or traffic lights system.
I thought side indicators were more for pedestrians that can't see the back or front of the car? Probably not important in the USA is they don't walk and also don't Jay Walk.
The side indicators have massively reduced collisions where people pull right into the side of an overtaking car in their blind spot, particularly at highway speeds when they might not hear your horn. It gives the overtaking car the warning necessary to brake and avoid the collision.
10:15 is actually a good use for the side indicators, if you put your signal on the other car might be able to see you want to turn in the lane
strange. don't use them in europe and highway accidents are very uncommon and certainly not provoked by the absence of side indicators also known as marker lights, which are not used in common day vehicles owned by common people but just in larger vehicles like semis. They can also be mandated to use light reflection stickers to make them more visible mainly during nighttime, foggy or heavy rain/snow weather. Oh ofc, there's side indicators but merged with the mirror, more visible and friendlier to cyclists and motor bikes riders. Used as turn signals, orange as the rear and frontal ones because they're seen as part of the whole turning system. Using the same color to turn and break is mental, imo... guess that's why us vehicles side indicators are orange, couldn't have done it all wrong - praise Jesus!!!.
The US licence plates are good collectibles, but trash in traffic IMO. so unnecessarily hard to read from distance, cluttered and small text.
And the cops ask you after the scene of a crime "did you get his number" and all you can say is something like "The Sunshine State".
Much of the problem stems from the all the tacky doo-dad background images and overly-styled fonts. "Clean' license plate designs, like Texas, are vastly easier to read. Those hayseed hick states in the Midwest are the worst, with plates that are effectively chintzy hotel paintings of barns and silos with numbers screened on them. They're almost impossible to read while the car is parked.
Yeah the whole argument is ridiculous.. licence plates arent supposed to be a piece of fashion equipment.. its an important identification plate both for police and private people to be able to easily identify the car not to enjoy how beautiful it is or not
"the side blinker" is more useful than you think. it means from almost any angle you can always see TWO flashing lights. People have "blind spots" when they are driving/pulling out into traffic etc etc and if one of them is out of sight and the other one is either partially obscured or you missed it... there it is - "the side blinker"
Years of research has proven them to be an important safety feature
Well said, I was dumbfounded when he didn't see the use of them, It's so obvious!
@@THE-THATCH the study was made in eu so its useless in us with that to much "space" in the city/parking lots and even the streets why they even use blinkers there thats a mistery
When I first came across US cars a while ago, my first reaction was how bad the build quality was compared to European and Japanese cars. They looked like a bunch of parts bolted together, rather than a integrated whole.
That's why you hardly see them in Europe anymore.
American cars were awful back in the 80s and 90s, but there are many American cars today that I think are as good or superior to European cars. Certainly better designed when it comes to ease of maintaining and repairing.
@@norwegianblue2017😂name like one superior US made car?
@@Pappa_66
Cadillac Blackwing, C8 Corvette, Cadillac Escalade, Ford GT, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Ford Bronco, Ford Mustang Darkhorse, Ford Raptor....
@@norwegianblue2017 I ment superior.🤣😅😅
The Netherlands and the UK are unique in Europe for having yellow rear number plates. As you can see her, the Netherlands also has a yellow front plate but the UK has white. White plates are almost universal in Europe and it's easy to recognise Dutch vehicles because the rear numberplate format is very different from the UK. I live not far from the south coast ferry ports so we see a fair few Dutch lorries.
Luxembourg also has yellow plates, at least in the back.
@@therealdutchidiot thanks for the information - I'll look out for them!
@@therealdutchidiotOn the front too.
@@missharry5727 Yes, you can recognize them (apart from the L in the blue bit) by the fact that the amount of characters on the plates is a lot smaller than on the Dutch ones (which are always 6 characters, grouped in three groups seperated by dashes) and also use a different font. They also are grouped together in one group.
@@missharry5727 Denmark have yellow plates also but only on select types and on top has a combined plate which is 20% yellow and 80% white to indicate that it's commercial but with taxes so it can be used privately
Side blinkers and mirror blinkers think more cyclist or motorbike/scooter. They are the ones most likely to be between the front and back of a car and concerned if its going to turn.
And pedestrians! Typical Americans ignore pedestrians as they don't walk anywhere!
Our cars had to evolve a lot faster due to the increased competition between manufacturers across Europe, plus our cars are not just about straight-line speed, our cars are good at turning too and have a higher build quality. You have made good strides to improve handling but have a long way to go
I remeber very well when Minis and Cortinas were beating the US made tanks easily on the track as the US made cars were only made to go in a straight line and the suspensions wre far inferior.
The side indicators are very beneficial to cyclists in slow traffic, or if the car indicating fails to see you as they pull across into your lane... of course ALWAYS using one's indicators has to be part of disciplined driving for this to work well.
For example a German licenseplate has a D for Deutschland, up to 3 letters for the city/area, state symbol, a inspection symbol, 2 random letters and up to 4 random numbers.
Been watching you for a couple of years now and love your content. As a Brit I can't lie, we have a pretty low opinion of the general intellect of our American cousins and I think you really save that... I know that's really patronising but it's the truth
least convincing thing in this thread
There is a reason why American spec cars are only sold in America, they're really bad.
I think they started putting a third brake lights on cars in north america is because people couldnt tell that a car was braking sonetimes.
Im sure you provably notice the side signals on the mirrors more then you realize.
The original purpose of the high-level, 3rd brake light was so that you could it see through the back window of the car(s) in front of you and have more warning of slowing traffic ahead. Hasn't stopped people driving too close and too fast, though.
Technology Connections has a very good video rant about the turn signals.
Would recommend.
Would recommend the channel in general.
You just can't sync turn signals 😄
The small yellow licence plate is not from New York, it's Dutch. Hey imported the car and the car doesn't have enough room for a European style plate, so it's allowed to apply for a smaller one, U.S. size! ✌🏼
The Netherlands is one of the few countries in the EU that make US-sized license plates. In Germany and the UK, they use smaller plates that are issued to motorcycles. Belgium's license plates are small are usually fit US cars.
@@yossarian6799 Sweden has what we call small sign or USA sign. its the same size as US but in EU font.
@@yossarian6799Belgium’s license plate used to be small, they changed it a few years ago and now have the standard European size
I especially find the side turning lights very helpful on crowdy roundabouts where there are three lanes or even more, sometimes people make a big mess of these roundabouts and there are always cars next to you. It's then good to know what is about to happen in the coming seconds so that you can anticipate directly or use the horn to warn someone if it really looks like there's going to be a collision.
EU plates have to be readable for police but also to park. You can register at your work place or shopping center or hotel or private parking lot. The computer system will automatically identify you to allow you to enter and/or pay your parking place if you link it to a credit car. Same thing if you dont respect the parking time. In France, in big cities, you have cars with scans that go through the streets and automatically read the plates and check in the database the time you reserved and paid the place on the parking meter (horodateur in french). If you do not respect, you will automatically receive a ticket at home 😅
If your plate is not readable, you get a ticket.
I dont know how it is in the US.
I must admit having lived in Canada for 8 years the whole "one light bulb doing three jobs" was a real mystery .It was sometimes difficult to work out what on earth the person in front was trying to do .Another issue was that many cars had an indicator speed that was so slow that you could hardly work out what they were doing .Indicators are supposed to "blink"at a speed that is clear that a turn is happening ,if they appear"stuck" its not that helpful . I had bought a Ford Escape with orange indicators as i knew they were safer than plain red.i was amazed the next year that Ford replaced the escape and the lights went from orange /red/red (indicators/brake/tail lights) to one cluster where one bulb did all three .Hardly an improvement .
Also I dont think US/Canada cars come with reflectors that European cars have ,ie a light unit with no bulb but reflects when a light shines on it .Helpful if the bulbs are out on the tail lights ,or the car is parked at night on the road.
USA - lowest bidder - lowest quality components to maximise profits (no concern for safety)
red indicator lights confuse the hell out of me. what makes perfect sense to me is you have 3 shades on the car for lights/plates. the front is white. if you see white lights/number plates (including the reverse light), the object is moving towards you. the back is red/dark (not white) colours (uk number plates bing yellow), if all you see is red lights the car is moving away from you. orange means a car is changing its direction of travel, or in the case of 2 indicators at the same time its hazards are on. very simple
I think American cars are like they were in Europe until 1970-80 in terms of safety and lighting.
The additional EU turnindicators are intended for bicyclists etc. in city traffic situations.
Those situations of car vs. bicycle are not common in USA/Canada and therefore might not make sense for Americans.
Have an American drive around in Amsterdam for a day and they'll get it too.
That side blinker system on EU vehicles is a really big life saver, once you get used to it you never want to go back.
You need to adapt your speed and indicate ahead of time before even moving sideways (to another lane) or braking. It's saver and you let the people behind you know what you wish to do. It makes far more sense.
Now for trucks (cargo trucks, not pickup trucks. We don't have those that much in the Netherlands) you will see more often mirrors being replaced by camera's. This because they can also show you what's going on in the night (some form of night vision is added) This means you have several screen inside your car. 1 on each A-frame pillar and a 3rd either in the center or above the right mirror camera screen. And you can get one for up front so you can see if someone is standing there or if you have space enough to turn. I'm not sure if this is already being added to cars as well as it's a fairly new thing in recent years. However it would be amazing to see this feature on passenger cars as well as it would increase safety and takes less drag during driving.
About the side turn signals, it happened to me today. I was on the highway passing a car and his side light came on. He was signaling he'd move to my lane, to pass the car in front of him. I knew right away he didn't notice me and would cause an accident. I was able to move to the lane on my left avoiding the accident. I would probably not be able to notice it if he turned to my lane with no warning.
The side indicators save lives. To get to work I have to cross 4 lanes of a highway at around 70mph and being able to see if someone if going to move over left into the same lane that I want to move over right into is a good thing for both cars.
about the side indicators, if you're on a 3 lane motorway, you're in the right most lane, and some other car is in the left most lane and you're side by side. now you want to take the middle lane and so does the other guy, you can tell from the side that he is indicating and wait for him to do so. this avoids both of you going to the middle lane, side by side, at the same time because you could see that he was indicating and intending to go into the middle lane.
also we dont have a lot of 90 degree turns our streets here in the eu is a lot more free form and sometimes you cant see the indicators in the head lights and the side indicators really help with that
Exactly !
I am from the UK and if you follow someone in the rain with their rear fog lights on at night it makes your visibility worse as your all the rain on your windscreen glows bright red
You are driving too close in those conditions.
@@4486igi I'm not sure about the legal rules in the other european countries but in Germany you may use the rear fog lights ONLY in fog and only at a vivbility of 50m (about 55 yards) or less! But you often see the lights at just more than a drizzle while they drive at 100km/h on the autobahn. The required distance between cars is 50 m at that speed and yes those lamps are blinding in this distance especially if it starts to get dark.
Remenber: a normal taillight is 5W, a fog light has 15W and usually a real reflector. That is the same light most mopeds or small scooters use a headlights ! - (talking about old fashioned light bulbs, not LED).
The side indicator is important if you're passing and just moving out of a driver's blind spot you've gone passed where you can see their rear indicators. If they haven't checked properly they're going to go into you.
Huge, not mentioned difference in spec are headlights. In US these are symmetrical, increasing the risk of blinding the car comning from your front. EU one are asymetrical, with left side only illuminating other cars well below bottom side of window, while right part is gradually going up, better illuminating side of the road, without blinding the car on the other side of the road. Another difference is that EU allows matrix type of light - segmented LED lights illuminating parts of the road according to road situation (highlighting as much as possible, but where there is no other car). So you can drive permanently on high beam. US does not allow these lights at all. This is huge safety feature and these systems become gradually more and more complex. Top of the line have tens of thousends of individual elements, not only allowing selective illumination, but also being used to display some additional information on the street, in front of driver (highlighting sides of the road, giving sign of pedestrians on the side, displaying speed limits or navigational data).
one more thing about lights, US cars do not have auto height adjustment. While its required in EU if the power of the headlamp is higher than specified limit (xenons, LEDs). So after you load the stuff in the trunk of the European car, lights are adjusted to the correct height and are not blinding other vehicles. If I put a lot of stuff in the trunk in my car in US, my lights are facing just straight.
The side turn light is an essential safety feature because when you are in the other guys' blindspot, just past their rear light, you will also be in the visible blind spot of both of their head and rearlights, so if they decide to signal lane change while not spotting you, you'll know you need to break or swerve. Side blinkers are a must!
The side turn signals you were confused about is mainly from the Netherlands, where they make you a gap when you need to shuffle through lanes to get to exit or something when the traffic is heavy.
If you are on a motorcycle and the car has not seen you, you can prevent an accident if the car bothers to indicate before you are run over. This is something that happens often.
With the turn signals it's extra confusing when European manufacturers decide to make a separate style for the US market. Ambers are allowed but apparently focus groups in the US hate amber turn signals. I think it looks nicer, not necessarily with amber glass but no one has that anymore.
I used to work for a Limo company in the UK, which imported stretched Hummer H2s from the US and had to make them comply to UK/EU law. The crazy thing was that they had amber indicators from the factory, but they still had to be replaced because they did not have the right EU approval markings. The same thing applied to all the lights and all the window glass.
Side markers is really important when you are on a bike. Its mostly the busses you have to be careful about though.
Turn indicators on the side have moved up to the wing mirrors. That's 3 amber lights flashing to turn left or right or 6 in all for hazard breakdown lights.
In a lot of European countries, especially in big cities. You will encounter bicycle lanes next to the road and mirrors indicators help the bicycle 🚲 rider to see if the car might turn right into the bicycle rider going straight
6:00 the side repeater indicator is great when a car is turning out of a side road and/or a roundabout. Makes it much more visible which way they're going. It helps. Maybe it helps a little on a motorway/freeway when you're passing someone too.
The EU specs are so much better. The US should just adopt EU specs.
Surprised there aren't more Americans on here demanding that the world conform to American standards.
turn signal lights (indicators in the UK) on the wing mirror also help you work out if someones bulb is out. its helped me a few times before
3 lanes ...you both want to go into centre lane so the side indicator would let you know if it is safe to proceed
Aussie here just relating to turn and brake lights. We have 2. Our turn signal is flashing amber above the solid red brake light. Both lights are same size. Theyre easily distinguishable between the 2. I agree the side mounted turn signal doesnt make sense. If Im next to a car that wants to turn / move over in front of or behind me they shouldnt be doing that til theres space in front of or behind me.
I have a 13 year old Ford Focus which has indicators on the mirrors, and they are way better than the wing/fender indicator. Front number plates in the UK have a white background and the rear has a yellow background, and the letters and numbers are visible at a longer distance, that's the point.
I feel the side indicators are most useful in the city. At traffic lights or intersections, a car might be partially concealed by other vehicles hoods, trunks, bikes, whatever. The signals in the higher position help.
I can't believe that your indicators are red. What a daft idea!
They used to be that way in the UK once. When I was a child, we had a 1954 Ford Consul mk 1, which had white indicators on the front and red on the rear, but it was one of the last to be made that way, later versions changed to amber all round. Don't forget, this was the early days of flashing indicators, many cars of that era still had semaphore arms.
On the topic of red rear indicator lenses being more asthetically cohesive: French cars have had red rear indicator lenses that produce orange light since at least the 1970's.
You can have entirely red rear lights and produce red, amber and white light with good lense design - the old Peugeot 406 from the 1990's and 2000's managed it.
Also french cars had their unique look of their yellow-ish front optics.
UK
front black on white
Rear black on yellow
Standardised character sizes
Background reflective so are highlighted in the dark
Can tell which way car was facing in accident
Can't change spacing of characters
5:00 Those Sidemarkers are very helpful . Ever experienced a Car on a property exit in the Dark? The Headlights are mostly not Visible from your Angle of View. Add a few Street Lamps to the Situation, and you even dont see the cone of light from the Headlights on the Street.
Some UK spec vehicles have 2 fog lamps at the rear (some just one) - my last car had 2 my current car one - and it is newer - some also have front fog lamps because high beams just reflect - not standard - my current car doesn't, but higher spec models in the range do - again my last car did have. (Apart from the obvious RHD - there are sometimes differences between UK spec and EU spec, but not as pronounced as those.
Maybe that's why my 'newer' car has one - just like my son's car, but I would also be leaving larger stopping distance s in fog, but it's a fair point
The side turn signal is more useful in slow traffic, when people are trying to filter into your lane. You can slow and let them in if you know their intention, if it is appropriate.
If you are driving on a road with 3 lanes and the guy in the far right lane wants to change the lane to the middle one (and in the EU he has priority), and you want to change from the far left lane to the middle side turn signal is a great solution. If it wasn't there, you could enter the middle lane at the same moment, causing a collision. The side indicator is also an additional indicator when the others are somehow covered or we are positioned at an unlucky angle. Additionally, it is also useful for long vehicles, buses, etc. Such vehicles often have more than one side turn signal.
the side blinker is good in crowded and narrow multiple line roads. I already was in situations were i was happy these existed...
side blinker is additional safety measure if for some reason (reflection of sun, temporary burned bulb, part of other vehicle) one of main blinkers is not visible..also mirrors here in europe in new cars have amber dot flashing when you have vehicle in blind spot (is connected to blind spot sensor).
Side indicators are a good feature becuase you can see when someone intends to turn or chnage lanes really quick were all used to it now and I'm sure if you moved to Europe you would learn to appreciate it you see them out of your peripheral they are really bright in poor weather night time or low visibility it just helps reduce the likelihood of an accident as intent is shown and understood in seconds.
One thing I want to add regarding Fender Mount Signals is when you’re passing said Car and he/she is signaling to change into your lane. Gives you the notion that you better pass them now before they end up sideswiping you in the process. Passing Cars on the Highway, I pay close (VERY close) attention to the Adjacent Car that I pass. Because you CANNOT guarantee that they know you’re right beside them regardless, especially with the incompetency of US Drivers. The Side/Fender Signals can actually save your Hide.
I always love the cross comparisons between EUDM (Euro), KDM (Korean) and JDM (Japanese) variants of several Vehicles we have here in the US. Take the Mazda Miata for example: known almost worldwide and have different variations based on specific Global/Regional Markets.
Texas gives you a choice of white-on-black or black-on-white plates. it's a clean design and easy-to-read. Fun fact: US license plate size wasn't standardized until around 1957 or 1958. Arizona was the last state to use to use a non-standard size.
Have you ever thought the safety features for people outside/ not driving the car? The mirror indicator is just one example. The biggest safety issue in the US is the lack of mandatory inspections/MOT. Every older car has to pass a yearly official inspection in order to be allowed to use that car. If you miss your time frame or do not have at least made a reservation for the inspection, you got a nice fine and the police takes your plates off and you are not allowed to drive. Only back home or straight to the inspection garage.
the side marker turn signal is not so much for other cars but for cyclist, motorcyclist and pedestrians.
Side blinker does not make sense. You can see when a car is coming towards you. Side blinker on the mirror is very helpful and even more visible than normal ones, especially on parking lots when a car is coming towards you.
Thanks for reacting to my video!!
I do agree that 95% of the time side blinker isn't necessary, but it is extremely helpful when the car next to you (or you) wants to merge in, can also be helpful at crossroads
In the UK and I'm not a driver but I'm sure here it's a legal requirement to have a white license plate at the front while the back is yellow with both black text.
You can get fined for having 2 the same colour. Someone correct me if I'm wrong please.
Probably. In NL both sides are the same colour (yellow, blue or green)
He only gave one example where a side blinker is useful. There are many others where a side blinker is definitely useful and a definite safety feature.
Apart from Ford Mustangs and some Jeeps you rarely see an American car in Europe. I used a Cadillac Esplanade for a couple of years. It was ridiculous but did raise a smile with onlookers.
Stellantis imports some of its American brands into Europe. I have already come across a RAM 1500 in my area.
Up until the 70s US cars were cool, after that they were just ridiculous.
A lot of Ford’s in the UK. Currently have 2 in our household out of 3 cars.
@@charlottehardy822 European Fords are really different cars than American ones, there are only a few identical models for both markets such as the Mustang, Ranger, Bronco and Mach-e.
@@charlottehardy822 European Fords? US Fords?
the side turn signals are a must here because you have pedestrians that might be looking at the car or we have a merge in turn road two lanes will become one and you need to be aware in advance.
7:56
me being German have to say that by law REAR fog lights are only to be used if visibility is less than 50m, approx. 10 cars or 4 standard EU semitrucks.
you do not see the necessity to see whether someone next to you wants to switch lanes, because you guys mostly stay within the same lane anyway. In Europe, we are required to drive on the right-most lane and to switch to the middle or left lane only for as long as we want to pass another car. Hence, we change lanes a lot - often in dense traffic - and it is key to know what everyone around you is doing to keep sane and safe… Also, rather frequently, you may have a truck in front of you on the right and a car next to you on the right. The truck may block your view of cars wanting to merge into that lane. But the person right next to you will see them! So, if they indicate they want to move into your lane to make room for a car wanting to merge in that you may not even have seen yet, gives you the opportunity to speed up, slow down or change lanes to the left to make room for the car next to you so they can make room for the car wanting to merge in…
Side indicators fave saved me from an accident before, when you slighly behind a another car in either its blind spot or when the other driver dosnt check mirrors properly.
They give you a bit longer to either sound the horn or take evasive action to avoid them coming into contact with you vehicle.
side "amber lights" is used other to see you when you entering on another street...they works like highway signs...other car headlights make it visible for them, so they dont hit u in the night
Those side blinkers are useful in multiple ways. First, it's proven that other drivers notice the blinkers more if there are side blinkers, but it also makes it more visible to cyclists and walkers and unlike the US there is a lot more thought put in to safety of people outside the car.
Yes, I agree, blind spots had nearly killed me. I always buy cars with largest window, and I never rely only on the mirrors anymore, you had to lock back.
Now I would like to see a video showing the difference inside the cars (e.g. assistance systems, airbag).
Diference inside the cars: US, Apple car play. EU, Android car play
As a pedestrian, the side indicators are useful, as I can see more clearly if a vehicle I'm walking along side of, is about to turn into a road I'm going to cross.
To my mind it seems that American cars try to keep cost down at the expense of safety.
For side blinkers i'd say that those situations are rarer because of the size of the roads, in Europe roads are smaller and you'll be a lot more exposed to close encounters with cars at +60mph you have to take decisions fast some times because of the speed and proximity with cars so you'll be in situations where you want to change lanes in parallel more often and its important to see if an other car wants your spot on the lane as early as possible because by the time you started changing lane its likely too late to come back, you have to commit
6:04 You assume that the other car sees it, but here in the Netherlands we also have other road users who are not in a car!!!
An interesting video. One thing I noticed about the Dutch car is that the number plates are the same colour front and back. In the UK the rear plates are yellow but the front plates are white. This is actually done so a quick glance shows whether you are looking at the front or back of a car in bad weather!
In the Netherlands we have another way to detect if you're looking at the front of back of a car. The font side has white lights, the rear side has red lights. No need to stare at a licence plate for that.
Don't be silly, not behind but side on, if a car wants to change lane, without the side mirror indicator, who knows. I can't see your rear or front indicator. It just makes its obvious for all, so general safety I think. Stop being defensive, just think of private health care v public health care... U.S right or wrong? I'll say no more. Cheers.
The side indicators are useful, imagine you and another car are driving side by side doing the same speed, with an empty lane between both of you.
Then you and the other driver decide at the same moment to move to that empty lane, he because he probably just finished overtaking a car on that lane and you want to start overtaking someone in front of you, or you're going to merge from a ramp.
The side indicator lets you know that the other car has the same intention and you can slow down a bit to let him move first and prevents side swiping each other.
Could be useful especially in the US where it is not a general rule to stay in the rightmost lane until you start overtaking someone and go back after finishing overtaking, so cars at equal speeds in several lanes side by side are even more common there.
The turn signals in the side mirror body is at eye height for oncoming drivers
Scenario: three lane road; you are in the left lane and another is directly beside you but in the right lane. You want to change to the center lane. This is when you and the car beside you need that communication.
The high-level side indicators (or turn signals, if you want to call them that) are also extremely useful and safer for cyclists to understand what a passing car intends to do. That said, you rarely have cyclists in the US, so....🤷♂
Side blinkers allow you to see if a car is coming into your lane whilst being in the cars blind spot. He may not see you. But you will see him and react. I have been on both ends of this kind of situation.
The side indicator there is two features in one. One when you are making a turn the mirror blink, BUT there is another feature in new cars, when you have a car in 'blind spot' or coming behind you that you cannot see, there is indication in side of the (both have individual indicator, for the current side) mirror reclection like small arrow or spot in orange indicating the there is a car in your blind spot that is the most best thing. You see the indication inside of you mirror without moving your head that okay there is a car in a blind spot.. If you have never seen it I understand, but When you drive on highway, and fist time realize then okay orange light/arrow in (inside the side mirror)the mirror like a lightning from a clear sky. . when a car have 'sneked' in to the blind spot when you could not see it coming they you realize Dang how good this system is!! you can focus on driving the car and looking ahead instead of having to turn you head and wonder if there are cars on the side or not.
Brake lights and turn signals are safety features, the better you can make them work, the safer the driving experience will be. It doesn't matter how good they look just use the safest one.
In the UK licence/registration plates are purely designed and formatted to be readable at a significant distance by other road users/general public/police/vehicle tax and insurance status cameras etc. Aesthetic considerations are not important. Also the front plate always has a white background and the rear a yellow one so others can quickly at a glance which direction a vehicle is travelling/facing particularly in low visibilty conditions.
Also when I took my test 44 years ago before I even got in the car I had to be able to read the license plate at distance. Don’t know if this is still part of the test.
it is not allowed to have the fog light on when it is raining. because it can blind the people behind with teh reflexion on the road.
I estimate I've needed that side indicator about 20 times in my life, which isn't many, but it's 20 times I averted a crash because someone indicated they were moving into my car. It's incredibly useful to know other driver's intentions.
Fun fact about the GERMAN version of the license plates: They are all set up like: *AA : BB-123* (Bold black letters on reflective white ground)
*AA* being a short for the city/county htey are registered in. "F" being Frankfurt, "B" for Berlin, "M" for Munich, "AA" for Aachen, WI for Wiesbaden... So you always know where a car is from.
*BB* is 2-3 letters which can be chosen by he owner (companies often use their initials i.e.)
*123* - up to 4 numbers, again, can be choosen by the owner (companies often number their cars 1,2,3,...)
Aachen is AC, not AA.
The GERMAN version has the format AAA-BB 1234 (E), AAA can be 1 to 3 letters for city or department where the car is registrated, BB can be 1 to 2 letters only and can be choosen by owner If available, but not each combination is allowed. 1234 are up to 4 numbers, can be choosen by owner If available. (E) without brackets is optional for EV/PHEV cars. Since 2022 licence plates can be kept on car even the car is leaving aera of first registration area.
The side indicators are realy important for cyclists and pedestrians especialy on longer vihicels likes vans, trucks and busses
@04:00 Becuase it's the way your dad's car looked. There are people in america today, who won't let go of 8-track players in cars. They like tradition. That is why the cars still look like they do. You can buy an acessory for the c-column, that is supposed to be reminiscent of the folding mechanism on the fabric canopy, people had on their horse buggies two hundred years ago.
knowing when the car next to you is turning is very important for roundabouts. There are very many across all european nations.
Actually the biggest difference for a long time was headlight technology - but I believe this is no longer true. Due to very strict rule of having fixed headlight in the US there were no adaptive headlights (turning the light beam left/right along with the steering) and active high beam assist - which was able to cut out all the vehicles from the high-beam, enabling using high-beam even in heavy traffic without blinding anyone. This was available elsewhere since 2010 but was allowed only recently in the US.
Side blinker, especially in the mirror, is great for visibility. Guard rails and things may block the lower one and you can't see if they are turning right. Where I live there is a bridge right next to the intersection where the residential road connects to the main road. The guard rail is taller than regular on the bridge. If I had to wait for the cars lower front blinker I'd have to wait a lot longer before I could enter the road. Main road obviously has priority so I have to yield and wait to see if cars from the left are turning into my street or not.
This is obviously not a case in the US where priority road is not a thing and yield signs are rare. We also have the right before left rule here.
Regarding the signs on the mirrors, I do understand it.....but you have to remember that the BMW in the video is on the left hand, giving the impression it's in the fast lane. Maybe you'll have the BMW driver wanting to get out onto a slower lane (for exit etc). Of course it could be the car on his right telling him to make a gap. Happens all the time in Germany.
You don't usually worry about sounding stupid.
Having the same bulb for braking and turning is mental.
Minute 7:03 - You are next me, just on my right. I see your signal that you want to turn left, so I know that I must go ahead to let you turn "behind me" or I have to slow down and let you turn left ahead of me. This choice is made also looking at your intention, but it's important to know that you're pretty early need to get in my same lane, ahead or behind me
The value of the mirror lights is to see if someone has the intention to maybe cut you off.