Red turn signals may cause more accidents than amber ones

When drivers in Washington get behind the wheel of a car, they want to know that they’re safe. Most cars produced today have built-in safety features that help keep their occupants from getting in accidents. Everything from adaptive cruise control to blind spot detection and automatic emergency braking are just some of the safety features that the latest cars have. There’s another simple feature on all cars that’s designed to keep occupants safe. In the United States, however, that feature may be contributing to more accidents on the road versus helping prevent them. That feature is the car’s turn signal.

In the rest of the world, turn signals are indicated with an amber light. When that amber light is flashing, it makes it explicitly clear to the cars behind it that the car is ready to make a turn. This feature has been proven to save lives. Many North American cars have red turn signals, however, and red signals can mean different things.

Red turn signals can indicate that the car is about to slow down or that a car in front is about to make a turn. Having to make this determination in a split-second is sometimes what causes accidents. Some drivers’ safety organizations are proposing that North American car makers get on board with the amber turn signal system, believing that the change could help cut down on the number of accidents.

A pedestrian or driver could easily suffer from a serious personal injury if they get into a car accident caused by someone who was confused by what a red turn signal meant. A victim of such an accident may benefit from working with law firms that have experience dealing with personal injury law.