Deathwish

[LillFilly]

Dear man in the charcoal grey car driving at 9:40PM last night on the highway without headlights;

Good luck.

I hope I don't read about your demise in tomorrow's newspaper!

[Crossbow]

A friend of mine did that a few years ago. He had one headlight out, and the other failed on the way home. Instead of being smart and getting off the highway and using flashers (or, you know, getting towed), he tried to make it home.

Nope. Tagged by the city's finest. Even better- he got TWO tickets. One for state law (driving without headlights after dark), and one for local ordinance (driving with less than two headlights at any time).*





* Whether or not that's fair or not is irrelevant to this post. Take it to fratching.

[wolfie]

Nope. Tagged by the city's finest. Even better- he got TWO tickets. One for state law (driving without headlights after dark), and one for local ordinance (driving with less than two headlights at any time).

On the "code sheet" for defects found on a pre-trip inspection, "both low beam headlights not working when headlights are required" is an out-of-service condition (i.e. must be fixed before moving the vehicle). Since a lot of places not require turning on headlights when using the wipers, it's best not to drive in this condition even in daylight.

As for the local ordinance, does it mean that motorcycles (which only have one headlight) are banned?

[dalesys]

As for the local ordinance, does it mean that motorcycles (which only have one headlight) are banned?

Old motorcycles have an exemption chiseled in a very large stone... cycle-option, we might say...

[EricKei]

Yes, yes, I do believe they call that one the "Polyphemus Act" ...that one's so old, it's written on sheepskin.

[mathnerd]

I got pulled over once for driving without headlights. It was very late and I'd stopped into a 24 hour Walgreens to pick up a caffeinated beverage. The particular stretch of road I was on is extremely well lit. Basically, it looks like daylight even at 3am (which was about when this happened). I didn't get a whole block away before I saw flashing blue lights in my rearview mirror. It was a Friday night, this was a major surface street, and shortly after last call at most of the bars in the area. The cop looked at my license and registration, asked me a few questions, likely noted that my speech wasn't slurred nor did I have any other signs of being drunk, fussed at me and told me to have a safe drive home. He could have been a lot less nice about it.

[Crossbow]

Old motorcycles have an exemption chiseled in a very large stone... cycle-option, we might say...

Ignoring your pun (as always, dalesys), motorcycles do have an exemption. Or rather, the ordinance was written for vehicles with more than 1 headlight by default.