Early in 1996, the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research first performed an inventory of the presence of a third brake light. This so-called zero measurement is necessary to enable an evaluation of the potential effect of the third brake light with future analyses of rear-end collisions. In recent years, there has been question of an extremely marked rise in this collision type. In combination with an inventory conducted for another study, the number of third brake lights fitted to passenger cars were counted at ten locations spread throughout the Netherlands. Three location types are distinguished here: (1) roads inside built-up areas; (2) 80 km/hour roads; and (3) the exit and entry ramps of motorways. All locations represented intersections controlled by traffic lights. The result of the measurements was that 10% of passenger cars registered in traffic overall were equipped with a third brake light. This percentage increased if the vehicles' year of manufacture was 1994 or above (1994: 14%, 1995: 28%). Only 5% of those cars manufactured before 1994 were registered as having a third brake light. In over half the cases, the third brake light was fitted to the lower edge of the rear window, and over 50% of these lights were longitudinal in shape.
Abstract