Headlights and Turn Signals: What They Are and How To Use Them

A letter to the editor appeared in the paper today regarding the use of the left lane on highways. In Pennsylvania a law was passed a few years ago restricting use of the left lane to passing only. Never mind the exceptions, such as left-hand exits and lanes that merge from the left. Never mind the mechanics of taking all the non-passing traffic from the left lane and suddenly forcing it into the right, potentially doubling the amount of traffic there. (To see an example of this in action, go to any construction zone where two lanes merge into one and see how smoothly things go.) And never mind the fact that Pennsylvania law does not permit drivers to exceed the speed limit, even in the "passing lane."

Drivers who are most strident on the use of the left lane as a passing-only lane tend to be the ones who like to speed a lot. As Maxim magazine pointed out a few years ago, America's highways are a sort of game: since the ratio of State Police to miles of highway is very low, most drivers can violate the law with impunity, although a few will be caught and punished. Is the risk of punishment, or the cost of that punishment, greater than whatever reward the traffic violator accrues?

It's not just the highways. The economy of Nanticoke would turn on its ear if police were to enforce city speed limits or even STOP sign laws. For those unfamiliar with the concept, STOP signs are posted at locations where the driver is expected to bring his or her vehicle to a stop. A complete stop. This is a condition where your vehicle ceases all forward motion. You can recognize it most of the time because your wheels will stop moving first, and the rest of the vehicle will continue forward for some brief but perceptible distance, and will then snap back as the suspension pulls the car back into position over the wheels. No snap-back, no complete stop, generally speaking.

Most drivers don't even come to an incomplete stop. At best they come to a "slow", as they reduce their speed just enough to verify (in their own minds) that it is safe to proceed, and then continue through the intersection. Some do not even do that much, and simply sail through the STOP sign if they believe the way is clear. In Olyphant, where I used to work, the handling of four-way STOP signs was fairly unique: anyone coming to a complete stop was assumed to be yielding the right-of-way to anyone who was still approaching the STOP sign. Hilarity often ensued.

And then there are the city speed limits. These are completely unenforced, along with rules prohibiting skateboards, ATV's, and snowmobiles on city streets - with one exception: students attending Luzerne County Community College are routinely pulled over and ticketed on their way to and from classes. Never mind that students attending the High School on the other end of the street routinely commit much more serious offenses, nearly taking the doors off the cars of residents trying to start their morning commutes and acting out scenes from The Fast and the Furious at the end of the day. The logic is this: most students attending the High School have relatives in the police force or on city council who could easily get the tickets overturned and/or make life difficult for the officer who wrote them. Most students at LCCC are from out of town, and do not.

Then there are headlights and turn signals. Turn signals should always be used, as a force of habit. When I was teaching my cousin to drive I had her do intricate patterns of ninety-degree turns in an empty parking lot - and chided her whenever she forgot to use her turn signal. That may be a bit extreme, but turn signals are generally the only way of communicating your intentions to other drivers. You may know where you are going, but the rest of the world does not. Turn signals and STOP signs, to me, are the measure of a civilized society: if people still use their turn signals and still stop at the STOP signs when they can be fairly sure no one is watching, they are likely to obey the law when there are witnesses around.

I have a friend who maintains that Red Light cameras are a liberal plot to strip people of their God-given right to run red lights. He also maintains that red light running doesn't happen in big cities, and must be a small-town phenomenon. Car and Driver magazine had a typically excellent editorial on this subject, however, which pointed out that red light cameras are often provided by companies that receive a percentage of the fines collected; it is therefore in their best interest to maximize the number of fines collected, even if this means fudging the data or lobbying to twist the rules to their favor.

Headlights are a funny thing. The law, I believe, does not require them to be used until an hour after sunset or more than an hour before sunrise. I find this preposterous. An hour before sunset and an hour after sunrise seem more reasonable, especially given the fact that most cars these days are muted colors that blend in with the twilight landscape. Better yet is to use headlights all day long; the draw on your car's energy supply is minuscule, and the increase in visibility, even in full daylight, is tremendous.

And FOR GOD'S SAKE, parking lights and fog lights are NOT the same thing as headlights. As a bicyclist, I often interpreted cars at some distance driving only with parking lights as cars with headlights at a much greater distance. Use fog lights in the fog, preferably when you're the only one around.

But back to the issue of highways and the left-hand passing lane. By law, this lane can only be used if the vehicle in front of you is traveling at less than the posted speed limit, and all other requirements for safe passing are met. In practice vehicles routinely travel ten to fifteen miles above the speed limit in the right lane, and even faster in the left lane. Safe following distances are routinely ignored. Tractor-trailers as a rule will travel much faster than the speed limit when they are behind you, and much slower than the speed limit when they are in front of you. The safe following distance for a fully-loaded tractor-trailer traveling at highway speeds is more than a quarter mile; I am reminded of this whenever I see a tractor-trailer rapidly pull up to just a few inches from my bumper while I'm traveling through a construction zone with a reduced speed limit.

Bad drivers and scofflaws are a problem, but they are a problem that I feel can be turned to society's financial advantage. They are a mostly untapped revenue stream, and any fines and penalties levied against them can be seen either as a tax on bad behavior, or a fee required of those who choose to ignore the rules of the road.

So what's the point of all this? I'm not sure. Drive safely. Obey speed limits and all other driving rules. Come to complete stops at STOP signs and red lights. Use your headlights so I can see you, and use your turn signals so I know what you're doing. If you break the law, expect to get ticketed and fined. As the song says, everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people, and many of them have cars. Most drivers I wouldn't trust with a shopping cart, let alone an SUV where the seat is higher than the roof of my Tercel.

And if you drive a tractor-trailer, stay the hell off my ass.