[tbyehl]

Every safety regulation is written in blood.

That particular blood was probably people stopped at night with the trunk open to access a spare tire or tools. And then there was more blood because sometimes those people forget to leave their lights on, or their lights don't function because the battery has died, so we got more regulation requiring ugly reflectors.

And so on.

[adastra22]

I have a hard time following the descriptions here and imaging what is going on.

People stopped at night with the trunk open to access a spare tire or tools, ok. How did that get them killed?

[amiga386]

It is a dark and stormy night.

You are driving on a road with only a single lane in each direction, and there is no verge or hard shoulder.

All you can see is the short area in front of you that your headlights illuminate, and they are dipped as normal so as not to dazzle oncoming drivers. You can see cars ahead of you quite easily because they have two red lamps on their rear, at their left and right extremities. You can see them even when you can't see the road between you and them. You can judge their relative speed from a long distance away.

Imagine a car has broken down. Remember they're in the same lane as you. You can see their red lamps and hazard lights, and you can judge they're not moving, well before you reach them. You slow down and go around them safely.

Imagine a second car has broken down. This car has an electrical fault and no lights, but has rear reflectors, just like roadsigns, which even your dipped headlights reflect quite well, and give you time to react. You manage to go around them safely.

Imagine a third car has broken down. The lights and reflectors are on the trunk hatch. It's opened and pointed at the sky. You're not in the sky. All you see ahead of you is blackness. The car body is only illuminated by your headlights once it's too late. You slam straight into the stopped, dark car. The person who was looking in the trunk is crushed to death.

[Zak]

> Every safety regulation is written in blood.

This has become a mantra, but it's not always true. Automatic shoulder belts, for example were a terrible idea, and 5 MPH bumpers were more about repair costs than reducing injuries.

[tbyehl]

The 5mph bumper impact standard was, as you've pointed out, not a safety regulation.

Automatic shoulder belts being annoying is irrelevant. The dozen-ish explosive, expanding gas sacks in my car are kinda frightening. Both originated with a regulation requiring passive restraint systems to reduce collision injury/death.