From: utzoo!decvax!duke!mcnc!ge Newsgroups: net.auto Title: Restrictive Headlight Laws Article-I.D.: mcnc.1287 Posted: Fri Aug 20 08:58:44 1982 Received: Sat Aug 21 02:10:21 1982 Having good night vision, I do not need to drive with headlights at night. Yet I am forced to buy cars with headlights, to use them at night, and at inspection time to have them in good working condition. Of course, using headlights improves your night vision somewhat, BUT SOME PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO USE THEIR HEADLIGHTS, even at their low price. The choice is clear and many, many people would prefer to take the risk rather than pay the price of reaching over to turn their headlights on. That's their choice, and in a 'free country' people are free to take risks, despite the apparent foolishness of such behavior. Individuals are FREE TO FAIL, free to do foolish or stupid things. The desire of millions of purchasers of automobile to NOT purchase the non-optional headlights is clear. Millions are being forced to purchase things which they do not want and will not use even after being forced to buy them. The more consistent advocates of using such force claim that we ALL suffer. What about the difficulty I have in seeing when blinded by others' high beams? With my headlights out, I am not imposing on their ability to drive, so how do we ALL suffer? The Constitition does not require us to use headlights. Mandatory headlight usage is the result of fluffy-headed knee-jerk bureaucrats who believe that they can legislate 'better' behaviour. They are the ones who have given us speed limits, headlights and airbags. Europe has shown us that they can do without these things: if they have an automobile mortality rate three times as large as ours, it's because the Frogs and Krauts can't drive anyway!