Burn Your Headlights, Wear Your Seatbelt

While driving to work during the rain Wednesday (10/8/08), I noticed many motorists were not burning their headlights as they ran their windshield wipers.

I decided to keep count for a few miles.

I counted 12 cars and trucks on Interstate 26 not running their headlights and two more on Fairforest Road near the Highway Patrol station.

Friends, the law in both North and South Carolina says if your windshield wipers are on, your headlights must be on too.

Here is the South Carolina law from www.scstatehouse.net:
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"56-5-4450. Times when vehicles must be equipped with lights.

Every vehicle upon a street or highway within this State shall display lighted lamps and illuminating devices, excluding parking lights, from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, and at any other time when windshield wipers are in use as a result of rain, sleet, or snow, or when inclement weather or environmental factors severely reduce the ability to clearly discern persons and vehicles on the street or highway at a distance of five hundred feet ahead as required in this article for different classes of vehicles, subject to exceptions with respect to parked vehicles as provided in this article; provided, however, the provisions of this section requiring use of lights in conjunction with the use of windshield wipers shall not apply to instances when windshield wipers are used intermittently in misting rain, sleet, or snow.

Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, may be fined up to twenty-five dollars."
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I certainly appreciate that our state troopers have more pressing things to do than pull over motorists for this violation and fine them 25 dollars.

But in my opinion, there are better reasons for obeying this law than the threat of being pulled over and fined. We all know there are an awful lot of accidents around here, especially on rainy days. Anything that decreases the likelihood of an accident is a good idea, in my book.

When it's raining hard enough for you to use your wipers, burn your headlights.

It's the law. It's one of those things you should do to protect yourself and your family, as well as the other guy on the road.

And while we're talking about it, buckle up too.

Going into this day (10/9), 699 people had died in South Carolina traffic accidents this year.

338 of those victims... 48%... did not have on their seatbelt.