Reflector strips on Taillight Panel?

[TomoHawk]

While driving at night, I have noticed a few vehicles swerving as if they, at the last moment, saw the lights and just missed hitting the back. Maybe the drivers were not paying attention to the road in front of them or they were tired, but our Datsuns are not really known for being as brightly-lit in the dark as modern cars are, even with all the DeOxit I used and the modern lightbulbs. The taillights on the S30 are not all that bright, although we try to get them that way, so I wondered if a few reflector strips might make the car more noticeable in the dark.

[jfa.series1]

You're thinking of something along these lines?

[TomoHawk]

Does it come with a life-size cutout of Burt Reynolds in Bandit costume?

I think it would be good to have some kind of thin reflective trips around the red part of the taillight lenses.

Edited June 16, 2013 by TomoHawk

[siteunseen]

Add some Yosemite Sam "BACK OFF" mud flaps and the reflective tape. Or just drive faster.

[zKars]

Sadly, I'm pretty sure there is very little you can do to make other people more aware of their surroundings, or to be better drivers. Even red flashing roof top lights and cattle prods are likely in-effective to wake some people up and make them pay attention.

Even something is better than nothing though, I'de see if a thin strip of that stuff applied to that very thin chrome strip around the tail light trim panel would add enough reflective area to be effective. I just wouldn't want to stick big strips of that stuff all over the tail light panel or along the back edge of the hatch or something, it would look pretty tacky in the day time, wouldn't it?

[SteveJ]

Dave Irwin has retro-fitted taillights with arrays of LEDs.

[jfa.series1]

Actually, the use of reflective tape was handled by the folks at BRE over 40 years ago. When I bought my car, the dealer had already installed the BRE Spook and spoiler. The spoiler came with the DATSUN die-cut letter set done in 3M reflective material, the dealer installed the tape set after painting the parts in 920 Gold. BRE still sells the die-cut set today but it is no longer the 3M reflective tape.