Busted

Driving back from the Chicago office this evening I passed an Indiana State Police car that was parked in the median trying to catch speeders. My backseat passenger (my boss) pointed out the cop and I assured him that I was driving the speed limit so there were no worries. Yes, I was driving in the passing lane, but that was only because the right lane was filled with semi trucks driving at their slower posted speed limit.

A couple of minutes later, I noticed a car right on my bumper. I thought he was being impatient because I was still driving the speed limit while passing all of the semis and he probably wanted to go faster. I told him (although he didn't hear me, I'm sure), "Hang on a second buddy, I'll get over as soon as I can." He wasn't very patient -- he flashed his headlights at me.

At the first opportunity, I moved back over to the right lane and as I did I could see my tailgater suddenly had red flashing lights.

I really couldn't imagine why I was getting pulled over. I know I was going exactly 70 mph.

Turns out I was driving without my headlights.

My excuses were:
1) It was light out when I started driving.
2) Wow, the dash is so lit up, I just assumed my headlights were on.
3) This is a rental car and I thought all new cars had headlights that turn on automatically.

Apparently one or more of these made sense because I was able to drive away with only a warning ticket.

Just before all of this happened, I had made a comment that this would be the time of day to expect to see deer running across the road. My front-seat passenger (a co-worker) said he could shut down his computer if the screen's light was distracting. I assured him that it wasn't a problem, that I could see the road just fine. How in the heck could I see the road so well with no headlights???