And there's a new trend... super-bright LED daytime running lights, actually bright enough to be distracting at high noon, and configured so that just one side switches off when the blinker turns on (giving this absurd half-lit or winking effect).

I was behind a car today where the middle "third" brake light would actually blink, so weird and distracting -- hopefully an illegal after-market mod.

Definitely one place I would have thought regulation would have stopped design from impacting safety. Next auto makers will decide brake lights don't even have to be red, because who cares about night vision if you have freakin laser beams in your headlights, right?!