Did I miss the memo, or something?
Is the village on some new energy-saving kick?
How refusing to use car headlights could possibly save energy I can’t understand.
Yet, I see so many Oak Parkers driving with headlights off, there must be a reason.
I’m talking about evening rush hour, say between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.
It’s dark by then and lights should be on.
Illinois law requires the use of headlights:
* From sunset to sunrise
* When windshield wipers are in use
* And when visibility is less than 1,000 feet
Granted, the word “sunset” is vague. But you know that 4:30 in the afternoon in January is dark.
Yet, there they are, car after car, driving with their lights off. I don’t know if these drivers can see me. But I know I have a hard time seeing them.
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Why would people drive in such a dangerous manner?
Then it hit me.
It seems to me that an unusually large number of these lightless vehicles are sport utility vehicles (SUVs).
I’ve always had this chicken-or-the-egg attitude toward SUV drivers.
And that is: Do only jerks drive SUVs, or do people become jerks after driving SUVs?
Who is that riding your bumper? An SUV.
Who just cut you off? An SUV.
Who just passed you doing 90? An SUV.
Who takes up two parking spaces at the store? An SUV.
The more I think about it, the more I believe the refusal to use headlights well after dusk is an act of hostility to other drivers.
Driving hostile is a commonplace these days.
Leaving the lights off while driving is another way, an easy way, to show contempt for – and in some screwy way – superiority to other drivers, other people.
Why some people want to drive hostile is beyond my competence. Maybe Donald Trump knows.
All I’m asking is for you to turn on your car’s headlights when its dark.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.