New Massachusetts Law Requires Headlights On When Windshield Wipers Are On

WCVB – A new Massachusetts law will soon requires drivers to turn headlights on when the vehicle’s windshield wipers are needed.

The law, which goes into effect April 7, also says headlights should be in use 30 minutes before sunrise and sunset or when visibility is under 500 feet.

Drivers can be ticketed for failing to comply with the new headlight law, and it is considered a minor surchargeable traffic violation, according to Eagle Trust Insurance.

Surcharges may result in increased insurance premiums.

Is this a good idea? Probably. Will it save lives? Most likely. The problem for people that already learned to drive is that it falls squarely into the “How the hell are we supposed to remember this is a law” category. I just spent 20 minutes in my kitchen trying to figure out why I was in there. I had to eat a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies just to save face, it was awful. No way I remember this every time.

Massachusetts is basically trying to teach a 13 year old Beagle how to roll over. I’d love to see the look on grandma’s face when a cop tells her that he pulled her over because her headlights weren’t on but her wipers were, pure confusion. Wouldn’t it be easier to pass a law that forces car companies to make it so the lights automatically go on when you hit the wipers than it is to confuse the shit out of every old person in the state? We have cars that parallel park themselves and know how to get to Cleveland, it can’t be that hard.

Also, what about circumstances where this makes no sense? What if you turn your wipers on to wash your windshield on a clear sunny day? Still illegal to not have the headlights on? Where does the government micro managing our lives end? Will they control our bowel movements soon?

P.S. Most importantly, what if you are driving through the Nevada desert with a Samoan lawyer on mescaline and have the wipers on to ward off all of the imaginary bats flying around? Imagine if that’s how Fear and Loathing ended? With Raoul Duke going to jail before he gets to Vegas for having his wipers on but not the headlights? I’m sorry but I don’t want to live in a world where a drug fueled search for the American dream is derailed by a windshield wiper law, I just don’t.