Traffic Safety and individuality

So driving to work one day a mini-truck with a shell pulled out in front of us - safely, and headed off in the same direction as we were going. It took a few minutes for me to realize that the lights on the back of the truck had been modified. Each brake light had been replaced by a single row of red LED's, and relocated low on the back of the truck.

I figured I'd check this out, and see if this guy was pushing the limits of the law, not to mention traffic safety.

The Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS 816.100 (5)) indicate that the lights must be "plainly visible and capable of being seen and distinguished from a distance of 500 feet to the rear of the vehicle in normal daylight." I doubt that these meet this statute.

I noticed that the owner was also using his brake modified brake lights as the turn signal. Okay, I'm old enough to remember when there were cars on the road that were made this way. But this truck is not anywhere near the age where it would have rolled off the factory floor like this.

The ORS (816.100) indicates that the turn signal should be a separate indicator from the brake light, and should be yellow or amber. It doesn't come right out and say that the brake light and turn signal can't be a combined unit, but it does discuss these indicators separately.

Why is this bouncing around in my head? Because it appears to me that this is a safety factor, and being that, it affects you, me, and the driver of the truck. If we don't see his brake lights or turn signal well enough, then we can't make the traffic decisions that we need to make to drive safely.

But hey, you decide.......