PEOPLE WHO DRIVE IN RAIN WITHOUT HEADLIGHTS

Just left the supermarket, drove home in a blinding rain, and came pretty close to an accident.  Car in front of me suddenly stops, does a U turn on a curving exit road, and I almost don’t see him because his headlights are off.  About every fifth car coming toward me on a winding, two lane road  on the way home has no headlights.  What is wrong with these people?  Okay, I know, some cars don’t have automatic headlights the way mine does, but if that’s the case, you surely are aware of the need to turn on your lights when it’s dark.

Some people make the excuse that because their dashboard is always lit, they can’t tell if their lights aren’t on.  So, you didn’t notice that you were driving in the dark?  Maybe they’re leaving their lights off to save money.  Back when I was a kid,  my Dad knew he had to turn on his headlights if it was dark or raining.  But headlights wore out quickly and were expensive to replace, so the idea of automatic headlights would have seemed like an unnecessary extravagance.  Every penny counted in those days. So maybe it’s part of living a frugal life, in the minds of these dim drivers.  They’re saving their battery,  or preserving the life of their headlights?  

Just for the record, here is the law regarding the use of  headlights in most states:

Headlights are required to be used 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise, when windshield wipers are being used, when visibility is less than 1000 feet, or when there is insufficient light or adverse weather. 

But how many times have you seen a car ticketed for breaking this law? I guess the cops are too busy chasing speeders, but people who drive without headlights in the rain or dark are just as apt to cause an accident, and they shouldn’t get by with it.                                       😡