at myself and the cop.

I've had my car 3 wks now and I have to get use to turning on my headlights cause my last car I had for 12 yrs - the lights came on automatically. Some times I forget and realize after going about a block.

Well, was out last night and pulled out of a parking lot, only got as far as 2 buildings away when a cop pulls me over and gives me a ticket for not having headlights on - Careless Driving - worth 2 points. Also made it mandatory for me to go to court.

I consider this bullsh*t. He couldn't of just stopped me and let me know?

Hopefully by going to court I can at least eliminate getting points??

 

Or you can exlpain it was an honest mistake... its your first car that you need to manually turn lights on.

 

I would go to court and explain it to the judge. I'll bet if he/she doesn't dismiss it, they at least let you off with just a fine (an no points) . Especially if you have a good driving record.

 

If you want your headlights to come on automatically, you can just leave them on all the time, and set your MID to headlight auto time off = zero. Then, when you turn off the key, get out, and close the door, the headlights will go off, and the next time you turn the ignition on, they will come on.

The only thing this doesn't do is differentiate between high beam and low beam, like daytime running lights do, so you just need to check the high beam indicator sometimes.

 

I'm hoping no points. A few yrs ago I went to court for ticket (instead of just pleading guilty and paying fine) Talked to the lawyer they had there that got up for me and judge dismissed points and just had to pay fine and I think what they called court costs so the total was more than I would of paid by just mailing in fine... but no points which is important. So I'm hoping I'll be able to do the same thing. I'm even figuring that's why ticket says I have to go to court cause they want to collect more $$$.

Umm, my record is iffy. I have no points right now, but was only 6 months ago that I got rid of points I had.

 

I thought of that, but had read somewhere on a board that your taillights are always on and sometimes during the day people can't differentiate between breaklights and taillights.

What I'm doing now as a reminder putting a couple of post-its in the car

 

I'm hoping I get the chance to explain to someone.

 

Thats what court is for! :p

 

See all the automatic stuff and gadgets are great but they make us lazy. As soon as we don't have them then we can't function. I think you should check to make sure the headlights are on regardless of whether or not they come on automatically. My reason is for the exact reason of what happened to you. If it stops working for some reason then you'll be driving around without any headlights. Make it a habbit of checking just so you don't end up in that situation again. On another note I hope you beat that damn ticket and more importantly the points. These cops can be a real B**ch.

 

The breaklight/taillight differentiation is quite easy....just have someone sit in your car and check it out for yourself

 

I think its a bogus argument. how do you explain the fact that you didnt notice a lack of illumination for all the time you were in the car from the time you turned the key to the time you shifted into gear to the time you were pulled over? you going to say to the court that you would have turned the lights on eventually? you werent aware they were off? just how did you navigate to where you ended up in the dark? did you even know why the cop pulled you over BEFORE he told you? this doesnt sound good but I hope youre lucky.

 

I have the same problem. I drive an 04 Trailblazer most of the time and it has the auto lights. When I drive my wife's TL I foget to turn on the lights.

 

jrogers345.............I hope you didn't get that ticket in my town (EB)!! What has worked for me in the past, is to get to court early and ask to meet with the prosecutor. You and everyone else there usually wants to to do this. Then you plead your case to him in private and see if he can/will do anything. He may ask the cop who wrote the ticket what he thinks (I hope you didn't give the cop too much attitude). If you get lucky amd you plead it down to a non-point violation, be prepared because the ticket price may be a lot higher than you expected. But that is the cost of doing business. :argue:

 

It's easy to forget to turn the lights on. You can navigate without the lights as major streets are lit well. It's happenned to me. I got lucky once as the cop pulled next to me and told me to turn my lights on. After that I haven't forgot. A simple warning is all that cop had to do. Bring a pic of your car and the judge might be a TL owner.

 

Well I pulled out of a well lit parking lot onto a well lit street.. and then only got as far as 2 buildings away from parking lot. Also, I had a friend in the car and we were talking, so that distracted me.

 

Thank you! I'm not the only numb-nut :worship: LOL!

 

Thank you! That's what I feel the cop should of done for me! I had only travelled about 2 buildings - wasn't like I had been on the road for miles. In fact, I would of been shortly turning onto a side street that is not as lit and probably would of realized.

 

No - this was in Jamesburg.
That's what I plan on doing. And one time in the past had done this and had ticket changed to no-point. Yes- ticket was higher, but worth it in the long run.
No, I was polite to the cop.

 

I've forgotten a couple of times to put my lights on because the streets were so well-lit and the fact that the TL gauges are always lit. In my old car, the gauges would not be lit unless I turned my lights on, so I've always turned my lights on when my gauges were dark.

Oh well, good luck w/ the ticket jrogers...

 

You're right - does make you lazy. I now have a post-it note to remind me til I get in the habit again.

Thanks! Yes! the points! Some cops can be real nice and others have an attitude - this one did.

 

Thanks!
Thanks to everyone!

Will let you know the outcome. Court date is 6/15

 

There is another reason I forget to turn on the headlights. The dash is always lit brightly in the TL and it never occurs to me to turn the headlights on. I usually correct this before I go a few blocks but it is easy to overlook especially on well-lit streets or when there is still a little bit of daylight left.
I wish there was a way for the MID to warn us to turn lights on just as they do about seatbelts..

 

I can't believe the stinken cop took the time to write a damm ticket for lights being off. Geeez, was he board or something. I mean really, I'm sure there was some crime or a stupid drunk he could be going after, but instead he decides to get the guy with no headlights on in a well lighted area. Does this type of ticket work similar to a speeding ticket. I mean, if you show up to court and the cop does not, do they throw it out?¿? I think he should have simply reminded you instead of being a prick.

 

Expalin how your TL has illumination on all the time, regardless of headlights on or not, this confuses me plenty of times because I think the lights are on. On saturday night, I took off from city walk and drove all the way to the freeway with them off.

 

Sounds like a small time Police Department ? They have to write a certain amount on tickets a month. They use the income from the summonses for whatever. When I was in NYPD, they expected a book a month. (20) I very rarely gave out a moving violation. I just wrote parkers for smart asses.
(double parkers where the Fire Dept. would be blocked etc.)

I move to Florida 10 years ago and got my first summons from a women cop in North Palm Beach PD. I did not come to a full stop at the sign. She would not give me a break. The bitch shows up in court on her day off, carrying her newborn baby. In Florida they give each other tickets-- one agency to another. Screwballs down here !

If you explain it to the Judge, hopefully he will throw them out or cut you some slack. With me, I had to take a 3 hr course so I would not get any points on my license. Lucky for me, my last 13 years on the job I was a Detective, and that meant, NO MORE SUMMONSES TO GIVE OUT !

Good luck ! You have a good case, just try to explain it as you described on this forum.

Sometimes I drive my son's 2003 Civic EX and I am not used to having the dash lights on. I have to think twice whether my head lights are on.

Good luck !
Cypwood

 

Exactly! Not sure about being thrown out, but I would assume.

The town is small (1 sq mile), known to have a**hole cops. And this guy was short (Napolean complex in a uniform). When I called the clerk, she didn't understand why he marked it required court appearance, except to perhaps give me a chance to talk to prosecuter to lessen it down for no points. This all means more $$$ I'll have to pay which is what I think this is all about.

 

Yep - small town. I'm figuring this is all about revenue which means they'll get more money from me by throwing out the points.

Yeah, I saw on tv a case where cops gave a hard time to another detective from another town in FL. Arrested, cuffed, pulled their guns, etc.


Thanks!

 

Why don't you just keep the headlights on all the time? They will turn off automatically & will then turn on automatically the next time the car is started. Not a big deal in daylight & is probably safer as other cars can see you better.

 

Les, I read a long time ago, that before you start a car, you should have all accessories off, so not to put a drain on the battery. ( all of the battery's power should be used to start the car )

Don

 

I've read that's not good cause your taillights are also on and sometimes people behind can't tell difference when you step on brakes in daylight.

 

"I thought of that, but had read somewhere on a board that your taillights are always on and sometimes during the day people can't differentiate between breaklights and taillights."
What does this have to do with anything? Anyway, the best thing to do is to leave the lights on all the time, which effectively makes them automatic.

 

Thank you for confirming what I wrote a couple of days ago in this thread, repeated below for your edification:

 

I thought about doing this but then you have to manually turn down the gages at night (ok, one button push) and then turn down the navi (a little more involved). I figured it wasn't worth doing all that and just left my Navi set to Auto and only use my lights at night.

Today it rained. On come the lights. Black goes the navi. So I'm thinking maybe I will try the auto headlights and just leave the navi set for day. Is there an easy way to turn down the brightness on the navi at night? I know if you hold the button in for 10 seconds it switches over, but that's my shifting hand. I think the voice command only works from the setup menu.