Tribeca reverse lights

[James in Oz]

Hi all, not an owner of a Subaru but I saw something yesterday that caught my attention.

I was coming to a stop at a set of traffic lights and there was a Tribeca in front of me, we all started braking and then came to a stop.

Just as the Tribeca stopped the reverse lights flashed once, the lights went green and we went forward but got another red light as it was a long queue.

Again the Tribeca stopped and the reverse lights flashed once.

At first I thought maybe the driver likes to put the car in Park when stationary, but the reverse lights would've come on again as the driver put the car from Park to Drive again. This didnt happen, only upon stopping did the reverse lights flash (just the once).

Im thinking maybe a trans brake where the transmission puts both Drive and Reverse "on" at the same time, if this is the case, why not choose Park?I

I found this interesting but cant find any answers with a google search.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Cheers!

p.s. I do like Subaru's, I've just never owned one.