A news report on the DAILY STAR yesterday gave us a real-world example of how the improper use of lights, along with the lack of it, can be deadly on our roads.
Here is an excerpt from the news report:
“Police investigation revealed that a tricycle carrying fishes driven by alias Chris, 43, with his wife, alias Lyn, 36 was traveling from north to south, traversing the outer lane of the highway, when they encountered an incoming vehicle from the opposite direction with its headlights on high beam.
The motorcycle driven by the victim, alias Melo, 62, a resident of Bacolod City, which was traveling in the same direction as the tricycle, bumped the rear portion of the tricycle, causing both vehicles to fall onto the pavement.
Further investigation revealed that the tail light of the tricycle was no longer functional, and although an improvised light casing assembly was attached, it was likewise not functioning. As a result, all three involved sustained physical injuries on different parts of their bodies.”
The improper use of lights on high beams, along with improperly installed aftermarket lightbulbs are one of the most common night time road hazards that despite being so easy to spot, authorities have done mostly nothing to address.
In this case, it could be concluded that the high beam was the ultimate cause of the road crash, having blinded both oncoming motorcycles. The worst thing about this was that the irresponsible driver was probably oblivious the entire time, just driving with their high beams on, unaware that they are a road hazard when they blind everything in their path. The high beam driver was just cruising along, causing death and destruction, essentially being involved in a hit and run.
The worst thing about being both oblivious and irresponsible is that these sort of people will never learn their lesson and we can bet that later tonight, if that fellow is driving, they will still be using their high beams improperly, causing even more near misses or even actual crashes as they do so. There are hundreds, if not thousands of these types of drivers in the world, and every day their numbers grow because the authorities do not care.
Aside from the blinding high beams, another major factor in the crash was the missing tail light of the tricycle, which is another common road hazard that our authorities turn their many blind eyes to. With a non-functional tail light, the tricycle is already invisible at night. The addition of the oncoming high beams made it doubly invisible, resulting in a perfect disaster waiting to happen. In this case, someone was killed.
Authorities still prefer to call this an ‘accident’ in their reports, but if you come to think of it, this was not accidental. This was the result of negligence, with the only one who was probably not negligent being the person who died, unless he was on his phone while driving. The high beamer and the tail lightless caused a death, but everyone will just shrug it off and say “it happens” or “that’s life.”
Someone died but cops won’t crack down on either of the approximate causes because it is too much work. They’ll probably just don some battle gear, proudly display their long arms, and conduct a lazy check point to make it look like they are doing something about it, and then forget all about it after a few days, allowing the deadly cycle of road hazards to continue.
The deadly cocktail of high beams and missing tail lights can and has killed. Especially if the road and weather conditions are not ideal. The news report just detailed how those two are concrete examples of road hazards that authorities have failed to address for decades. Anyone who goes on a drive at night will most likely encounter that combination at least once, especially if you do it in rural, poorly lit stretches of highway. And since the authorities are not interested in making our roads safer by addressing this issue, the burden is upon us to be more alert when we drive because we have to admit that our roads are still as dangerous as ever, thanks to lazy or non-existent enforcement.
If the authorities are useless, can we make ourselves useful by policing ourselves? How do you use your high beams? Do you have aftermarket headlamps, LED bars, or fog lights improperly installed? Is your tint too dark and that is why you need extra lights? Check your tail lights from time to time and have them fixed if they are busted. It’s not that expensive to change a lightbulb, you know.
In summary, please do try to be more considerate and don’t be an asshole night time driver. There are already enough hazards on our dangerous roads as it is. If the authorities are unwilling and unable, doing our share will go a long way to make the roads that we share with the public everyday much safer.*
