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Here is a tip that could save your life:
Take a glance at the photo to the left.
Now, look at it again. I'll bet you didn't even see the car in the back without its lights on.
When it's raining, when the sun is going down, heck, all day long, turn on your headlights. I'm not just talking about your automatic driving lights -- those don't automatically turn on your taillights. You need both.
I've watched it happen, and I've almost done it myself... if it's getting dark, if it's foggy or misty, or if it's rainy (and especially when trucks and other cars are kicking up a spray), and you don't have your lights on, people in front of you cannot see you when you pass them and could inadvertently run you off the road.
Many times, usually in the rain, cars will pass me in BABS without their lights on. And, I don't see them until they are right beside me. If they do that when I'm about to change lanes, and I can't see them, they will get run off the road. It's almost happened to me numerous times (and I'm very diligent about making sure I have plenty of room to pass). Fortunately, nobody has been hurt, but I can't even begin to count how many times I've seen cars forced out of their lane while trying to pass a truck kicking up spray in the rain.
If those cars had their headlights on, they would easily be visible and thereby avoid potential disaster.
I bring this up because I almost ran a car off the road in the rain today. It didn't have its lights on, and it was that metallic gray color that so beautifully blends in with the overcast day, the spray, and the road itself. Gray is a pretty color on a car, but in the rain, it's dangerous. For all practical purposes, the car was invisible.
Fortunately for the driver (and for me, since I'd rather not have his death on my conscience), he was in front of another car that did have its lights on, and I was able to make him out before it was too late.
Turning on your lights is a simple thing to do, yet so few people do it. As a matter of fact, because of that near-collision (and the fact that there isn't a whole lot to do while driving endless miles of freeway), I decided to count how many drivers don't turn on their headlights in the rain. To make it easy, I counted cars coming toward me in the opposite lanes. And, the numbers were essentially the same whether I was near a town or in the middle of nowhere. Out of 400 cars (yes, I was bored!), 52 didn't have their lights on. That's roughly 13 out of 100 or 13%. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it shows that at least one out of every 10 cars is potentially invisible in the rain.
To me, that number is staggering. Now, of course, those numbers don't actually translate into traffic accidents, but why risk it? All you have to do to eliminate the risk is to push a button or turn a knob. Is that so difficult?
What is the argument here? That you might forget your lights are on and drain your battery? Okay, I'll go along with that. I've even done it myself. But, compared to getting run off the freeway by a semi... I'll take the dead battery every time.
Your headlights are your lifesaver. Use them.
(Click here for a great link to driving in the rain)
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