Combined message display and brake light

A method of providing a rearwardly directed message from a vehicle comprising the steps of:

• mounting upon a rear portion of the vehicle a display screen having an array of light emitting elements, said array including different groups of elements that form different messages,
• energizing one of said groups of elements to display a message, and
• energizing a major part of said array when brakes of the vehicle are applied, said step of energizing one of said groups to display a message comprising the step of storing sets of data in a memory, each said set representing a message to be displayed, selectively extracting at least one of said sets of data from said memory, and employing the selectively extracted set to energize elements of said array of light emitting elements in a pattern that forms a message represented by the selectively extracted set.

A method of providing a rearwardly directed signal from a vehicle comprising the steps of:

• mounting upon a rear portion of the vehicle a display screen having an array of light emitting elements, said array including different groups of elements that form different messages,
• energizing one of said groups of elements to display a desired message, and
• energizing at least a major part of said array when brakes of the vehicle are applied, said step of energizing one of said groups of elements comprising the step of displaying a multi-line message one line at a time.

A method of providing a rearwardly directed signal from a vehicle comprising the steps of:

• mounting upon a rear portion of the vehicle a display screen having an array of light emitting elements said array including different groups of elements that form different messages,
• energizing one of said groups of elements to display a message, and
• maintaining said display screen in disabled condition until a first application of vehicle brakes, and then energizing at least a major number of said elements upon each subsequent application of the vehicle brakes.