On, Off, Auto. It’s Simple, But Some Montanans Clearly Struggle.

I struggle daily as I drive through Bozeman and see this. In fact, it baffles me so much, I have come to write about it. To say I have never been in a town with this problem would be a lie, but to say I have never seen it happen so often would be accurate. Now, are they tourists or locals? Who knows.

How can people not realize they don't have their lights on?

I drive to work early in the morning, typically there are around 15 (at most) cars on the roads, and I would say at least twice a week I see someone cruising along without their lights on. It baffles me to the point where I am saying out loud to myself "umm your lights are not on you're going to get hit".

I wrote an article when I moved here a couple of years ago about how poor the residential street lights were, I can't imagine what it would look like without having your vehicle lights on at all.

As I drive home in the evening, the situation is even worse. There are at least 2-3 cars every evening without any lights on. I just don't know how someone doesn't realize they have forgotten to turn them on. Cars today are literally made with a button that keeps them on constantly or turns on when "needed".

If you have an older vehicle, just have them on all the time. Pull, push or turn the knob and then you don't have to worry about it. Growing up in the country, I was taught to just always have them on so it has never been an issue.

The only reason I can see for this lack of headlight use is if you came from a big lit-up city, where every road is so bright you have never been able to look out the window and see the stars. Well, welcome to Montana, where you need headlights.

If you are new to "country living" please take a minute and make sure that your lights are on (this includes the tail lights). If you have a new driver in the family, just teach them to always drive with them on, it doesn't do any harm to your vehicle, it just keeps everyone safe.