Looks like I've got a headlight out.

"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem) 11/22/2013 at 11:55 • Filed to: None

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Better replace it before a boared cop pulls me over.

ttyymmnn > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:01

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I was driving home from Victoria, TX to Austin late one Saturday night, and I didn't realize I had a dead headlight. In Gonzales, TX I got popped by a DPS trooper. He asked if I knew I had a light out, and I replied that I didn't, and he gave me a warning. Not twenty minutes later, I was driving through Luling when my radar went off and I saw a Luling PD pull a uey behind me. I just pulled over before he even had a chance to turn his lights on. When he came to the window, I just handed him the warning from the DPS trooper. Luling PD laughed and let me go. I still had 60 miles to go. Fortunately, I didn't get stopped again.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:02

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"Boared": typo, or Freudian slip?

area man > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:02

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Yeah, he might waterbored you.

Kugelblitz > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:02

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Too late.

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 11/22/2013 at 12:03

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My wife got popped for a headlight out by some young cop who gave her a fixit ticket. We had to mail proof that it was fixed to them. We paid someone to install a light bulb so that we could send proof to the man.

hangus77 > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:03

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CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/22/2013 at 12:04

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CalzoneGolem > hangus77 11/22/2013 at 12:05

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I'm not sure what this means.

dinobot666 > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:13

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R.I.P dearly departed headlight, you will be missed. :(

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 11/22/2013 at 12:13

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I always get a little edgey around people driving with dead headlights, because with most cars it's a relatively easy thing to notice, and people tend to get caught fast (as you document). I generally assume rightly or wrongly that people driving dead-eyed are people who give zero shits about their car in general, and that might carry over to driving.

Mostly because people paying attention and taking care of their car are likelier to get it fixed fast, so the lion's share of actual time on the road spent with a dead light are (so I tend to assume) due to those either paying zero attention to their car or who don't care, because it's a lot easier to spend volumes of time that way than if you're the sort to get it fixed.

In your case, confluence of factors (long drive, late night, probably decently high ambient light from other cars) meant it was harder to tell, and possibly your model of car. Weekday evenings in a rural area, that's when my warning bells go off.

CalzoneGolem > dinobot666 11/22/2013 at 12:14

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I remember how he used to make it brighter on the passenger side of my car. Those were the days!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Kugelblitz 11/22/2013 at 12:15

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This reminds me I need to do a Duke Nukem-esque mutagen campaign in an RPG. An RPG other than Gamma World, that is. Maybe Shadowrun.

ttyymmnn > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:16

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"Repair and Report" ftw. Sucks you couldn't just do it yourself.

I had a cop in Belton, TX (semi-rural, hour north of Austin) follow me into a grocery store parking lot. I got out of my car, dressed nicely from teaching, and he rolled his window down to tell me I had a burned out taillight. It's one of those cases where I wondered if I had been black or Hispanic if he would have hassled me.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/22/2013 at 12:19

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In your case, confluence of factors (long drive, late night, probably decently high ambient light from other cars) meant it was harder to tell

Funny you should say that, because as I was driving through some of the darker parts of my drive, before the trooper stopped me, I couldn't figure out why I was having so much trouble seeing the right edge of the road.

But you're right about maintenance being a good indicator, generally, of how serious people are about their cars and driving. I always avoid cars that are driving around with body damage because that means they only have liability on their car, or no insurance at all. And they've already been in an accident.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 11/22/2013 at 12:23

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...and appropriately enough, dead headlights are a common indicator of front-end damage with a car seen at night even before getting close or bright enough to see the cause...

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 11/22/2013 at 12:28

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What if you were black and hispanic?

oldirtybootz > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 12:31

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I saw a Suffolk PD Vicky with a headlight out yesterday, which is far too common of an occurrence here. As far as I'm concerned, if a cruiser has any light out, they shouldn't be abke to write any equipment violations.

Slave2anMG > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 13:07

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In years gone by there were stories of cops in speed trap towns that would put a wet cloth/paper towel over one headlight so that it would look dim...the way sealed beams did when they'd failed. Drivers would think, "That's no cop" and speed etc...by the time they'd gotten pulled the paper towel would have blown off.

CalzoneGolem > oldirtybootz 11/22/2013 at 13:16

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It is that time of year. The cold seems to put more stress on bulbs.

CalzoneGolem > Slave2anMG 11/22/2013 at 13:18

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Ha! That's good stuff.

oldirtybootz > CalzoneGolem 11/22/2013 at 13:43

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I still think it's inexcusable to put a cryiser on the road that wouldn't pass NYSI.

Kugelblitz > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2013 at 22:40

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My first character in gamma world as radiation proof.

... and water soluble.

Kugelblitz > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2013 at 22:41

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My first character in gamma world as radiation proof.

... and water soluble.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > CalzoneGolem 11/28/2013 at 19:41

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Padiddle!

CalzoneGolem > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/28/2013 at 21:25

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You didn't touch the roof it doesn't count.