The thought of drivers being notified if a bulb is out needs to be looked at. I think most cars will blink at an accelerated rate if a bulb is indeed out it depends on the wiring I believe. I see an awful lot of dead bulbs on the road, road condition in my area may contribute to this. The thing is I don't think a lot of people are aware why their blinker is fast or they may not have even noticed the speed. Why not have something akin to the door ajar indicator on some vehicles only this displays a non functioning bulb's location when the key is turned?
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A modified bulb with two filaments that permits a backup when the primary goes bad which automatically activates an alarm would give the car a safety factor and permit changing the bulb at a more convenient location and time.
I think I seen something like that in an early 1980s Ford Mustang.
Definitely is a good idea. I've got an 1987 BMW that has something like that. Basically an LED corresponding to the specific problem on the 'check' panel above the rear-view mirror will go on, along with having 'check' flash on the instrument panel. Pretty simple system, but it's really effective. It doesn't actually have a light for the turn signals, those are just done by having it flash faster, but it covers the low beams, tail lights, brake lights, license plate light, plus the coolant, oil, and washer fluid levels. Surely twenty years later something significantly more advanced could be done, particularly if you have any type of on board computer, it could specify the exact light and cover many more problems as well, a lot better than the ambiguous 'check engine' light.
My '88 Accord has a system that tells you when the brake lights or headlights burn out by illuminating a light in the dash ('course you have to figure out which light is burned out as there are five brake lights and two headlights).