🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Bz138M.9Ht@rice.edu> cathyf@is.rice.edu (Catherine Anne Foulston) writes:

>The annoying part was that if I had simply driven home with no lights
>on after the switch broke, I could probably have gotten away with
>telling the cop that I hadn't realized they were broken -- it is
>pretty well-lit on my route.  But no, I figured I better put on the
>hazard lights -- so it was obvious to the cop that I knew.  I can't
>really complain since I was in violation, but doesn't it make you
>wonder if they can't find something more important than ticketing
>people who are obviously trying to be careful in bad circumstances?

This brings me to one of my pet peeves about drivers in Austin - they
seem to have a phobia about turning their lights on. (Note: this is
not meant as a flame on Cathy - she was obviously trying to be careful
in a bad situation). Most people have their lights on at night, but in
dim twilight, at dawn or in rain, about half the drivers will turn
their lights off. Can anyone tell me why people do this?

Once, just a couple of weeks ago, in rain, between 7 and 7:30 am
(right around sunrise), I was about to change lanes when I noticed a
car bearing down in that lane faster than I was going, with its lights
off. I noticed this car just in time to avoid changing lanes but I
realized that I may well have killed or injured both of us.  My rule
is that whenever natural visibility is in any way impaired, my lights
go on. Does anyone know what the law is on this?

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Siddarth Subramanian          INTERNET: siddarth@cs.utexas.edu
Austin, Texas                 UUCP:     uunet!cs.utexas.edu!siddarth