I dunno about strobe brake lamps Richard, but I've developed the habit of tapping my brake pedal 3 times before actually braking - it flashes an alert. I do this mostly when anticipating a turn off a highway where the turkey behind me might not be awake and expecting any change from his routine of tailgating and plowing ahead to his destination, which hopefully isn't my rear end. I do this no matter what vehicle I'm piloting.
I don't always do it when coming to a stoplight as there often isn't time, and we don't try to beat yellows; unfortunately a lot of people seem to expect us to I guess. I do check my mirror to see if the guy behind is slowing with me, though, and that habit helped a lot a few years ago when a kid with a learner's permit plowed into our Explorer. That's happened twice to that poor car, but she's tough; in both cases all the damage was to the rice-burners' front ends, and it was extensive. When the kid hit me, I saw he wasn't stopping and instinctively let off my brake while I was still rolling up to the light. My forward momentum absorbed some of the impact energy, reducing the harm done, at least to my neck and the Explorer. The Explorer's Reese hitch took most of the hit in both cases, spreading energy to the spare tire in front of it underneath the car; sort of a built-in shock absorber system I reckon.
We are a bit off Ken's topic, and I hope others helped answer his question, but try the 3-tap braking method if you can't ferret up a strobing brake fixture. It's a good habit regardless.
Joel
Addendum: I suppose you could also use the taillight flashing feature on your Smartwheel in lieu of strobes or brake taps.
