One bit of trouble I have with traffic signals is when the road I am on is lit with sodium vapour lamps instead of metal halide. The sodium vapour lamps glow orange when warmed up - almost the same colour as amber traffic signals. The signals don't stand out on the horizon and it is very easy to blow straight through them.

Brad, have you noticed modern cars have blinkers that are much harder to see than older cars??? These days many of the blinkers are clear lenses with an orange insert . Some are so hard to see! They were better years ago.

Pete

modern cars have blinkers that are much harder to see than older cars

I have the opposite experience. Many new cars these days have blinkers with strips of LEDs that seem to think that their job is to put on a light show.

They dont have that problem with blinkers in the ACT. Canberrans dont use blinkers lol

Where does the Purple "Telecommunications Reference Conductor" fit into the puzzle ?

I rarely ever see them. Mostly I see metal casings daisy-chained together with green/yellow 2.5mm, into the back of a G.P.O.

Was the T.R.C. , a passing fad ?

Wayne.

I also find indicators on modern cars difficult to see.
If you are square on it's okay but at an angle they can be almost invisible.
Sure the crystal look is very nice but not great in practice.
Once again it's form over function.

I find that if the sun is shining into the clear cover of modern LED blinkers it can be impossible to see if they are on. Especially a problem if you making a quick decision to enter a roundabout based on the blinker of a car already on it.

LED lights on cars and trailers are a pain in the ass! . Honestly the old bulb was far better.
Often you need to replace the whole unit.
Led spot lights are no where near as good as our old spotties.
Trailers are a nightmare and many run massive resistors covered it tape by people who should not work on cars .
I have notice the trend now going backwards with Repco and other parts places now stocking the old bulb units more and more.

I have left the bulbs in the indicators - no big drain on the battery as they only operate when the engine is on. LEDS are in the parkers, where they can be left on for long periods without flattening the battery, and in the stop lights where they switch on slightly faster. Not much faster but every bit helps the bloke behind's reaction time.

Just bear in mind that most LED globes and headlight conversion kits are not ADR-compliant, often for the reasons outlined in this thread. At best, the globes don't really suit the fixture and at worst they shine too brightly and blind other road users.

Car makers go out of their way to make LED light fittings that work and they don't mind charging hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for them but the engineering required to make fittings that work as intended is extensive.

the globes don't really suit the fixture and at worst they shine too brightly and blind other road users

One of my pet peeves is aftermarket headlights that are not correctly aligned on low beam. Moons ago, headlight alignment check was part of the pink slip inspection process. It should still be!

A related peeve is station wagons, utes, etc, overloaded to the extent that the rear sags and the (poorly aligned) headlights point straight into the face of oncoming drivers.

Well of course, if you buy any Chinese copy of original parts at half the price it's going to be shit, plus your putting money into the hands you may not want too.
But this is not a new problem in the motor industry. Even when I worked in it ,There were always cheap , Pistons, big Ends and Rings from Taiwan where a complete engine rebuild would only last one year if your lucky.
Generally speaking if a car or motorcycle part is made in China it's rubbish and your not saving money.
A Toyota starter motor will cost you about $450 for a LandCruiser and will last on average 250k to 300k on ute or LandCruiser.
I Chinese after market copy will cost $120 and may last 50 to 80k.
But more importantly is where the money is going . Plus it's not good economics to ever service a car with cheap copies.

My mechanic still has a sight board for headlight alignment. It's easy to tell aftermarket LED conversion kits - the glow from the lamps looks like a halo and, yes, not correctly aligned and the colour temperature is too high. Any decent mechanic will pick it up and fail it. A lot of those who put these kits on their cars just put the standard globes back for the pink slip inspection then put the junk back on once the mechanic has passed the car.

If a cranky copper sees it, they'll book the owner.

Pete: Remember back to the days when Repco only ever sold Australian-made? Everything from a packet of screws to a reconditioned engine. These days the shop itself would be lucky to be made here, never mind what's inside it.

PS , A headlight alignment is compulsory on a blue slip but not checked on a pink slip so yes ,many cars alignment is what off

Yes I do Brad... But we are all learning fast now