QuantumRift said:
There's that fine line between being seen and being a distraction.
QR and guys, here's where I have a
SERIOUS issue with lighting laws.
They were initialized
under the premise of reducing
distractions on the road,
but in truth, it was a matter of members of
Law Enforcement, and their Political associates, responding to
personal jealousy issues. I was working Law Enforcement when, at the highlight of these laws' implementation, and I can tell you
for a fact, the anger and jealousy against "
Hoppers" (young kids) and "
Dealers" (who were mostly just honest folk who had worked hard for what they had, and just wanted something special), was quite palpable! There was a movement to stop people with
LOUD (stereo) "
Systems" from "
tearing down the streets" in their "
Hooked-up" cars, when "
hard-working individuals" (mostly older folk who were settled and just simply didn't prefer, or could not afford, personally, to invest the money into their cars or learn how to do it themselves) couldn't do it.
Since there were no laws, at the time, against "
Beautifying" or "
Customizing" your car, and they didn't want to interfere with "
legitimate" custom car associations (which had dues, rules and regulations and were mostly joined by older, more mature "
hard-working" folk), there was a push, initiated (quite
illegally) by Law Enforcement personnel, and later
supported by the community (and finally, the law) via a campaign of
negative propaganda, to make it illegal to modify a car "
aesthetically" from its
factory distribution. This meant,
legally or illegally, they could and would
target individuals for
harassment for adding tinting to their car windows or for using lighting or reflective effects on or under the vehicle, customizing their paint jobs too extravagantly (like reflective gold trim... until GM and Ford Motor company started doing it from the factory a few years ago), using custom hydraulic systems, or doing anything else that may garner
attention.
At first, they said they wanted to keep the
Drug Dealers from enticing youth to follow in their footsteps and from becoming
Role models in the low-income communities. Then, when people stopped thinking that every young person with a car or a stereo "
system" was a
Drug Dealer, it was that these "
effects" are
causing accidents and are a
major road hazard and distraction.
Explain to me, how is being
VISIBLE a distraction? If you want to "
light-up" the immediate area (called an "
IMPACT ZONE" for a reason) around your car, wouldn't that more likely
discourage lane sharing, tailgating, and lane drifting, and better support driver buffer zones? I know for a
fact, before these (IMHO)
FOOLISH laws about lighting were implemented and subsequently enforced, you rarely ever had an issue with noticing a vehicle equipped as such, even when they "
forgot" to turn on their headlights as they left the gas station at night or drove in the rain.
If it were about keeping down distractions, then murals painted on Tractor Trailers and Tour Buses, Exotic Sport Cars, eating or drinking in the car, listening to music, wearing "
attention getting" or "
revealing" clothes, including mini-skirts (for women) when in convertibles, the Can-Am and T-Rex motorcycles (as well as all similar styles of bikes), trikes (especially ones like the BOSS HOG), driving with a t-shirt of "wife-beater" on, Bike Week, organized rides, BYO (Bring Your Own) Hot-Rod and Custom Car events, funerals processions... (Need I go on?) would
all be illegal, because they are a hell of a lot more distracting to other drivers than someone's car lighting! You want a distraction? Let me ride ANYWHERE in, pretty much, ANY COUNTRY with a "drop-top" Lambo Countach, a Ferrari Testarossa, or Bugatti Veyon, or just let a pretty woman in a mini-skirt bend over to pick something up instead of stooping!!
It's all about
HIGH VISability!!! This is why we can light up our bikes!!! It's been
PROVEN to be a
SAFE and
EFFECTIVE method of recognition.
WHY can't we do it with cars? One word...
JEALOUSY!!!!
Textile jackets already have reflective piping sewn on them and RedLdr1's additional reflective tape will show up even better if there is any light around. And if there is no light around, then chances are there are no cars around either.
