What if a simple addition to your car—an extra brake light on the front—could prevent thousands of collisions?
That’s the question behind a new study led by Ernst Tomasch, a road safety expert at Graz University of Technology in Austria.
The team analysed real-world crash data and accident reconstructions to test the idea, and the results are striking.
The study, published in Vehicles, suggests that adding a forward-facing brake light—visible to oncoming or crossing traffic—could cut collisions by up to a fifth. At intersections, where vehicles are prone to stopping and starting abruptly, the extra signal could give drivers just enough time to react.
“This visual signal can significantly reduce the reaction time of other road users,” says Tomasch. “This reduces the distance needed to stop and ultimately the likelihood of an accident.”
While rear brake lights have long been standard, front brake lights are virtually absent from today’s vehicles, with only limited field tests—such as one in Slovakia—trialling them in real traffic. Because of this, the researchers relied on detailed reconstructions of accidents from Austria’s Central Database for In-Depth Accident Study and simulated how events may have played out differently if the vehicles involved had been fitted with front brake lights.
The analysis revealed that, depending on the reaction time of road users, 7.5 to 17 per cent of collisions would have been prevented by an additional brake light on the front of the vehicle.
In up to a quarter of cases, the lights also would have reduced the speed of the impact and thus mitigated injuries.
Future integration
Front brake lights, which light up green instead of red, can be easily retrofitted into vehicles relatively cheaply.
However, they’re not a silver bullet.
“Front brake lights only have a positive effect if other road users can actually see them,” says Tomasch. “This was not the case in around a third of the reconstructed accidents due to the unfavourable angle between the vehicles involved. We therefore recommend fitting the brake lights to the sides of the vehicles as well and investigating the potential additional effect.”
The team hopes further trials and real-world applications with front and side braking lights will help shape the next generation of vehicle safety design.
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