One problem related to brake light switch has been reported for the 1997 Chevrolet Lumina. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Brake light failure detected before any incident. Center light functions while signal/brake combination lights fail. Failure caused by multi function switch located in steering column. This part cuts off the brake light when the signal lights are activated. This problem is intermittent, which makes it difficult to identify at first. Through internet research, I have found many references to this problem. Although my car is 1997, it only has 64k miles, thus I would not expect this type of failure related to moderate usage. If not fixed, brake light failure may result in rear-end collision.