Third Brake Lights and Rear-End Collisions

Wait just a second! Your editorial (May 20), “Stopping Rear-Enders,” on the third brake light, fails to take into account a basic human principle, namely, that as soon as people get used to the third light, the accident rate will go back up.

Just as the first car to ever have brake lights at all would have fewer rear-end collisions than other vehicles at the time, every time you add another light, you reduce the chance of accidents even more--temporarily. But soon people get used to seeing the blinding glare and tend to react as slowly as before. Hence, the accident rate increases once again.

Your solution would be to keep adding lights, but there is a limit to how much warning you can give (perhaps a 5,000-watt strobe light would be in order). The end result is that people with nice looking cars (i.e. any car built before 1986 without the third light) must foot the bill for their own accident rate increase, caused by people expecting the third light.

RICHARD WAGONER

San Pedro