The Senseless Ambiguity of North American Turn Signals

There are studies linked below that demonstrate a tangible safety benefit of amber turn signals. You might want to check them out. Though it might be small, the benefit is demonstrably there.
This has always bugged me, and no one talks about it. Our automotive lighting regulations in North America are stupid when it comes to tail lights. This video is about what is stupid, why it’s stupid, and what we could do about it.

Here are some studies showing that amber turn signals are indeed safer:

The following NHTSA study found between a 3 and 28% decrease in liklihood of collision with amber turn signals, although it acknowledges that some of this may have been related to simply having a separate indicator for braking and turning and not explicitly the color;

This study showed a significant descrease in reaction time to a brake signal when the vehicle is fitted with amber turn signals--partially explained by “Specifically, the subjects knew whether the red or the yellow turn signals were to be expected”. This suggests that the design should make clear even when the lights aren’t lit that there is a separate indicator for a turn signal.

And wouldn’t ya know it, the IIHS has done some research. It’s a shame they aren’t making a bigger fuss about this:

You can support this channel on Patreon! Patrons of the channel are what keep these videos coming. With the support of people like you, I’m able to make these videos full-time. If you’re interested in joining the amazing people that support the channel, please check out my Patreon page. Thanks for your consideration!

And thank you to the following Patrons!
Charlie Quigley, Dakota Williams, Adam Erickson, Kevin Terrell, Tommi Hares, Trevor Smith, Thomas Fuchs, Callum Brieske, Tomas, Chuck Floyd, Eitan Tal, Emil Gilliam, Andy Copsey, Bitcore, Filip, Per 'Zapro' Jensen, Ward Sutherland, Örn Arnarson, Alberto Amatucci, etho624, Chris Giddings, Tomasz Kolinko, Carles Codony, Samuel Plainfield, Jason McMillon, TeaChest Media, Michael Pacheco, Jason Ganiatsas, Mike Gerow, Marc Schroth, Andrew J Thom, Samuel Blakey, Mrpirate707, Frank Harris, Joseph Spiros, Patrick Meister, Sergey Kiselev, Clara Latter, Ashley Grant, Scott Emmett O'Donnell, Tianyu Ge, jeekl, rozboris, Kelly Rose, Paul Fisher, Stephen Vrazel, Applied Science, Peter ford, Sophie Haskins, James Id, Brendan Sheehy, Jay Foreman, Rich Theobald, Kyle Olson, Bryan Reid, Quinton Wilson, Jeremy DeGuzman, Sean Spark, Lucas Hartbarger, Taylor Cuzela, David Lastres, Granger Meador, Jeremy Kitchen, Jason Wellband, Shane Belaire, Paul Emmerich, Matthew Rossi, Paul Craigie, Alex Smith, Nick, Tyler, Paul Williams, Steven Hidy, Fredrik Grufman, Kollin O'Dannel, RJ Kent, Yona, Kevin Strehl, Tony DeSimone, Mike Bailey, Maggie Brown, Howard Kraut, TM, Mark Nicholas Wales, Jason D., T.J. Steckbeck, Pavlo Pravdiukov, Tobias Faller, Marco Anastasi, Peter Byrd, Trix Farrar, Matthew Razza, Mitchel J. Mullin II, Jakob Strande Langgaard, Jan Staval, Paul Walton, Matt Falcon, Steven First, Denver Alexander, Conor Hennessy Sykes, FinaleGrande, Christopher Dickey, OnlyOneSolutionTBHFam, Matt Sackett, Tim Juchcinski, Wayne Marsh, Ernie Smith, foophoof, Stein Strindhaug

And hey there, Patrons! You might have noticed that the list has ended prematurely. Starting from this video, I will have to do this on a rolling-basis because there are SO MANY OF YOU AMAZING PEOPLE! I like to put your names here because each and every one of you is awesome, but I keep getting descriptions that are too long! Rather than just give up, I’ll simply split the list up and make sure each one of you gets your time to shine, if less often. Thank you!

[LordNova]

As someone who lives and drives (professionally) in North America I can say sadly this argument is only valid if drivers USED their turn signals…

[bmo]

This guy is a master at turning 3 sentences into a 20 page essay

[BlaizeV]

Also the amber light is useful for pedestrians crossing the road, knowing which direction a car is turning is something I look out for all the time.

[RatsPicklesandMusic]

I literally had a car dealership salesman while he was selling me my car, reassure me that "hey you can turn off the lane assist so that it doesn't beep cause, you know some people don't like to use turn signals with switching lanes" and I was dumbfounded....

[trodat]

This is too advanced for the internet. There are plenty of people around the world that still doesn’t know they HAVE to use the turning lights.

[hosmerhomeboy]

The turn signal is best used randomly. This creates a fog of misinformation which will confuse the enemies surrounding you. This in turn makes it more difficult for them to foil your efforts.

[AndrewMois]

As someone who immigrated to Canada after all my life spent in Europe, I cannot tell you how I hate red turning signals. How many tricky situations I had with those car, especially in the traffic jam where you see only half of the car and they push brakes every second. I will never buy such a car for myself.

[arandominternetperson]

The US has really weird lighting regulations. The car's most important blinkers can be any color, while the front has to have these 90's looking orange reflector thingies on the headlights, making US-spec cars look 10 years older than they are.

[Stet]

Fun fact: Despite the separate amber turn signal, the 2002 Odyssey still does not meet European lighting requirements due to the lack of rear fog lights.

[kadepow]

"Turn signals. They're a good invention. Use them."

thank you for coming to my TED talk

[robster]

Lol NHTSA just released their research findings and might be soon requiring manufacturers to implement amber turn signals since it has apparently resulted in reduced crashes.

[ellamayo]

Having lived in the US my whole life, I never even noticed this! To clarify, I’ve noticed that some cars used specific amber lights to indicate turning, but I never thought that this was anything other than a stylistic choice, let alone something that ought to be standardized! After having watched this, it totally makes sense why it should be. But as so many others have pointed out, we’re just happy if people use turning signals at all, let alone consistently...

[davidpayne]

"Are you so concerned with saving a few dollars per car?" Yes. Yes, they are.

[NeoTechni]

"Are you so concerned with saving a few dollars per car"

You're talking about the industry that has a formula they use to determine if recalling a flawed car is more expensive than the lawsuits they'd face

[adamrobledo]

The headlight thing is so true. I can’t believe the countless amounts of people driving modern vehicles without headlights

[Etobio]

I keep having to come back to this video every time crappy turn signals almost get me killed.

[Rickyp]

Is a 2002 Honda Odyssey" love the reference my man

[chaosvolt]

"People don't care about their own safety."

Boy this aged like a fine wine.

[guardian_agent]

As a former police officer, we were taught to always use our amber rear light bar lights because they can be seen from further away and in bad weather. This alone should be why all rear turn signals are amber.

[robertstaples]

My favorite are the turn signals that move from left to right or right to left like a neon sign. They're called sequential turn signals. They're distracting, completely unnecessary, and, yes, usually Red when I see them.