Just look around us, all cars , whether new, old, with LED or halogen lights share one thing in common in the lighting scheme: the color of the rear lights. A lot has changed in the car world but the lights we see when we go after another car were and are still red , now it remains to be seen why.
Unlike other "norms" of newer lights, the one that defines the red color for the taillights is quite old . Although the first cars only had lights at the front (lamps or candles to light the way) it soon became obvious that the more there were on the roads the more it would be necessary to find a way to "communicate" with each other and this led to the appearance of lights in the rear of cars.
But where did they get that idea and why do they have to be red? What harm did the blue one do? Or the purple?
The trains showed the way
Cars were an absolute novelty, so the “inspiration” for their exterior signage came of the trains , which in the 19th century were the big news in terms of motorized transport. The car would not appear until the end of that century and would only become truly popular during the first half of the century. XX.As you know trains need a high level of organization to travel and this organization is achieved through signage. Therefore, from an early age, lanterns and lights were used to communicate between trains (don't forget that at that time there were no cell phones nor walkie-talkies).
It was an instant before the communication systems used on the train lines were transferred to the roads. THE first inheritance was the lighting scheme used to indicate the stop/forward order, with the semaphore scheme (green and red) to originate in the railway world. THE second legacy is the adoption of a rule that ended up bringing red lights to the rear of all cars.
The rule was simple: all trains had to have a red light at the end of the last carriage to show where this ended. When the automotive world looked for inspiration to find a way for a car to “communicate” with what's coming after you, you didn't have to look far, just remember that rule and apply it. after all if worked for trains why wouldn't it work for cars?
Why red?
Now that you understand where the idea of using a light in the rear of cars to “communicate” with vehicles in the rear came from, you are definitely asking yourself: but why is this light red? There could have been several reasons for this choice.
If in the world of trains it makes sense that this was the color adopted, after all the railway companies had already ordered huge red lights for the signaling of the lines. Why shouldn't they apply them on trains? Cost containment at its best. In the world of automobiles we can only speculate, but there are two possible hypotheses that jump out at sight.
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The first is linked to association we make between the red color and the stop order , something we obviously want to pass on to those who come after us when we have to slow down. THE Monday is related to the association between the color red and the notion of danger , and let's face it, hitting the back of a car is something dangerous.
For whatever reason, automobiles ended up adopting this solution. THE at first they were lonely lights , always on, on the rear of the first cars to signal their presence on the road. With the evolution of technology came the STOP lights (which light up only when it locks) until from the 30s of the last century it became the norm for cars to own lights on both sides of the rear, assuming the most diverse forms imagined by stylists and designers.