As of July 7, new car buyers may notice an unusual difference during emergency braking: rear red brake lights will no longer remain fixed, but will begin to flash quickly.
This will not be due to a defect or to a choice of individual car manufacturers. This is a new European regulation designed to reduce the number of rear collisions, which remain one of the most frequent causes of road accidents.
What an Emergency Stop sign is
The Regulation applies to all new cars and forms part of a Community regulation adopted in 2019 and has gradually imposed various driver assistance systems in recent years. The system that alters the rear brake lights is called the Emergency Stop Signal (ESS) and interferes only during the most intense braking. If the control unit of the car detects a particularly severe deceleration, as during the steep braking on the highway, the rear brake lights begin to blink to attract their attention more quickly back.
When it works and what it does
The objective is simple: to make it immediately clear to other drivers that this is not a normal slowdown, but a sudden braking. In some models, once the car stops completely, the alarms can also be automatically activated, usually indicating a change from a relatively normal traffic flow to a number of stopped cars. Brake lights flashing, as mentioned, will not be activated every time the brake pedal is pressed. The ESS system only interferes when certain speed and deceleration limits are exceeded, such as over 50 km per hour and during abrupt, violent braking, exceeding 6 meters per second on the block.
For those who already have a car, nothing changes. The change has no retroactive effect. Already car owners will not have to install new devices or modify their vehicles. The ESS requirement applies only to new imports made after 7 July 2026.
Other changes since July 7
The flashing brake lights are not the only new feature to be added in the next few days. A new package of mandatory safety features for new cars will enter into force on July 7. These include automatic emergency braking with recognition of pedestrians and cyclists, more advanced lane maintenance systems, driver fatigue monitoring, an intelligent speed limiter, a collision data recorder (a kind of "black box") and preparation for an alcohol insurance system, a device that prevents the car from starting if the driver is found positive on alcoholic substances.
Follow E-Radio.gr in Google News and learn first The hottest news.
For even more new, get in news flow E-Daily. gr
Follow E-Radio.gr and Instagram
