It all started going down hill when they began to require that cars have brake lights.
Ha. Ha.
When I was a kid I remember old guys ordering 'special lights' that they put on their cars and acted like big shots. The first blinker lights were added on by the owners. It was only later that they became standard features.
A friend of mine was riding with his 11 year old graddaughter in his 1998 Ford Ranger and she pointed at and asked what that knob did. He said, it rolls up the window.
“It all started going down hill when they began to require that cars have brake lights.”
You could tell Fred FLintstone was braking when you saw smoke coming off the soles of his feet.
In Virginia, brake lights are effectively not required, since the state law prevents cops from pulling a vehicle over for no brake lights.