[Midas]

Off late, I'm seeing many vehicles with white indicator lights (with slight bluish tinge). Isn't it a very dangerous practice? It may look cool, but definitely not as much noticeable as amber indicators. There is a reason why indicators and brake lights are in amber or red color.

During day time, we don't notice this white indicator immediately. Moreover, we may not be able to clearly differentiate it from head lamps in night (I agree that it goes on and off, still ).

I fail to understand why many people prioritize looks over safety and rules. What do you guys think about this?


PS: Mods. I couldn't find any other thread on same topic. If it's already being discussed, please merge or delete this.

[IshaanIan]

Utterly annoying practice but I don't really care since people barely even use the indicator in India and even when they do it is mostly at the last moment which they think gives them the right to turn without checking. Instead of resorting to cheap tactics like RTO and PUC checks, the cops ought to instead fine folks based on whether their vehicles are roadworthy; bikes without mirrors, cars with useless indicator lenses and highly smoked brake lights, suvs with bull bars, trucks and buses without functional brake lights etc.

PS: Happens even with manufacturers. I found my Kizashi's stock clear indicators on the front wings to be useless in the day when the sun is shining bright. Swapped them all out for LED bulbs and that solved the issue. Most clear lens indicators are useless in the sunlight unless the lens is orange or the bulbs are LED.

[anuragn]

Glad that you raised this topic.
These are exactly my thoughts too. Most of these "mods" are done on two-wheelers. I have even seen red tail lamps having been replaced with blue LEDs .
This is a very dangerous trend which is I feel is becoming prevalent due to ignorance of safety rules, or complacence or maybe, both.

[EPMV]

All of these modifications are based on how seriously the car owner considers Safety vs Beauty.

Really I couldn't get how they fail to understand the basics of the automobile features. While all the manufacturers make the indicator in yellow as a common practice, they can make it in their own color and blame others on the road.

The same goes with full time high beam drivers/riders, high speed drivers/riders thinking the brake is located in the horn pad, etc.

I will be happy to see a behavioral exam as part of the driving license procedures, though I can understand those things are just a dream India.

[itwasntme]

Actually traffic police can increase their legal fines tremendously for 'equipment infractions' as they call or in the U.S.

For example, my neighbor's second car (Innova) has around 10 such illegalities including 2 non-working taillights / indicators, dark sun film, 100/90 headlights, air horn, reversing musical horn, bull bar etc.

Simply stop them on the road and issue a Challan for each such violation.

[SchumiFan]

Just white? I have seen multicolored lights inside indicators. Add to it the white head lamp mod in the current reflector setup. Purely blinding to anyone who makes a mistake of looking into it.

Then there are cases where either the front nor the tail lamp works. On a normal street, if they are following a car/bike which has its lamp on, they will be completely invisible.

A big pain to spot these 'geniuses' for pedestrians.

[greenhorn]

I recently noticed that my clear lens side marker lights were running clear bulbs - I believe they should be running orange ones.

Perhaps this is done by workshops who have stock of only clear bulbs ?

[GTO]

Our brains are hard-wired to see 'red' as stop and 'orange' as indicator lights. These shouldn't be messed with. Also annoying are the poorly 'blackened' tail-lamps that a lot of enthusiasts get, and which reduce the light's intensity.

In the UK, you could fail your MOT if you change the colour of these crucial lights.

[libranof1987]

I don't know/understand the reason behind it; but it doesn't seem to be a fad as such. Actually, most cars in the US (except Germans for the most part) do have transparent glasses over turn indicators.

Agree it doesn't serve the purpose; it becomes difficult to spot them, especially in daylight.

[sagarpadaki]

These white indicator lights are after market LED which are fit to enhance the bling factor. It confuses the brain on two aspects -
1.Faster blink rate, since the LED consumes very less power the system confuses with a blown bulb and makes the bulb blink faster. The flasher relay also has to be updated to the LED specific handling ones to make them blink naturally. Majority of people are not even aware of it. Let alone change the relay

2. Color - Blue,white,bluish white - This totally messes up the wiring of the brain and i almost always have to process the indicator second time to actually confirm that it is indeed the turn indicator and move accordingly. Our brains are so used to seeing Orange for turn indicator that such lights creates confusion.

[saion666]

I couldn't spot the indicator blinking in an Alto today morning. They were stock ones.

I could anticipate that this person is going to turn left as he was slowly inclining leftwards and was thinking to myself that why the hell these people don't use indicator and on looking closely I could see that he was actually using it but was not visible under the glaring morning sun. It was an Alto k10(the old ones).

I guess manufacturers should also test the designs under our conditions such that it's visible under all weather conditions. On top of these, there are these idiots with green/violet and what not coloured lights as indicator.

[NPX]

All these imbecile people doesn't care for others road safety. There are people who don't use indicators while turning instead they will stick out their hands indicating the way they want to turn to.

However, there are people who, in quest of saving money, buy cheap spare parts like indicator covers (in case of bikes) which fades away in harsh sunlight and turns white.

Also, I've seen bikers with their indicator lights (both) modded to turn on with stop light. Can't expect sense from these people. Your safety is in your own hands.

[Car-tya]

On the weekend i saw a bullet with a blue turn indicator. Having followed him for a while realized that both left and right indicator would start blinking to indicate he wanted to turn, which way i was not sure.
A few minutes later an overeager yellow platter overtook me and starting tailgating this rider. As luck would have it he switched on his indicators and the car following assumed he was turning left since the bike was ridden right in the center of the road. Next turn a near miss with horns blaring and last minute braking. Given that neither the rider or the driver was either concerned about safety both of went on their merry way as if nothing happened.
Worse the blue light had a flash effect which was particularly discomforting to look at. Looks like an epidemic is spreading, prevention is better than cure they say.

[greenhorn]

for me, the more dangerous fad I've noticed is the flasher some folks (esp cabs) wire into their brake light system. When one taillight is not visible, the blinking makes you think that the guy is going to turn that way

[vikramvicky1984]

Another thing i have notices with new cars: Indicators are on the inside of headlight, i.e. not in the corner/ side but towards the grille (new i20 IIRC). Combined with clear lens, increased size of the headlight itself and the smaller grille, they become very difficult to spot- almost in the middle