Brake lights have never bothered me. They certainly don't "blind" me. I'm with Jocko on this one. I live in an urban environment (1.5 miles from Warrington town centre) and it's just part of urban driving.
Spoke to my brother yesterday who has had autos for years. What did he do at a long stop - eg a level crossing. Answer? There are no level crossings where he lives! He always uses foot on the brake at lights. He never ever uses neutral but, if there was a long stop, he would simply go into Park, handbrake on, engine off and start again.
It's an issue, occasionally, for me because there are more swing bridges than you could shake a stick at in Warrington and when one of those babies swings you are immobile for 10 minutes.