I certainly wouldn't recommend "recognition lights" as a replacement.
Navigation lights tell you only that an airplane is near and what
direction it's headed.

I have always found it difficult-to-impossible to determine an aircraft's
direction of flight by viewing those itty-bitty green and red lights. In
night flight, if you're even seeing another aircraft's nav lights, you're
way too close, IMHO.

Luckily, many aircraft have strobes, which makes determining relative motion
bone-simple.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"