I was driving home from Kingston last night at about midnight, and flashing lights appeared behind me. I go out of my way to make sure I'm not stopped by the police, and I couldn't imagine why I was being stopped. Very simple: I didn't have my headlights turned on!

With daytime running lights, the dashboard is always lit up, so that was no clue. Even though it was midnight, there were lights in the parking lot and lots of streetlights and store lights. Also, my DRLs put out some light, so seeing wasn't a problem. I'll have to use the Auto On feature of the headlights and let them turn on and off when it's appropriate.

As we were waiting for the cop to arrive at my window, I told my son several "funny" things I could say to him. "Sorry, officer, but I had so much to drink that I didn't want to call attention to myself, so I left the lights off." "When I stole the car from the guy's driveway, I didn't want to turn the lights on and alert him." I also thought it might be funny to jabber at him in a made-up language, or to get out of the car screaming and waving my arms. My son thought it would be better not to make jokes.

Been there, done that! My car (an '09 Nissan Versa) turns the interior lights on with the ignition, not with the light switch. No idea why, since it means they are burning constantly even during daytime driving... The parking lot at work has bright lights, and several times, coming back after a late field trip, I have been out in the road before I realized that I had not turned on the lights.

Talking about the 'auto on' feature... When I first came over to the US in 1990, I bought a 1980 Buick Riviera, and that car had all kinds of gizmos on it that I had never seen before. Driving to work in the early hours - daylight but only just! - I would hear this "click...click" every so often. Turned out that the lights were coming on and then off every time I went under a highway bridge! No idea how many people must have thought I was flashing at them...

I was driving home from Kingston last night at about midnight, and flashing lights appeared behind me. I go out of my way to make sure I'm not stopped by the police, and I couldn't imagine why I was being stopped. Very simple: I didn't have my headlights turned on!

With daytime running lights, the dashboard is always lit up, so that was no clue. Even though it was midnight, there were lights in the parking lot and lots of streetlights and store lights. Also, my DRLs put out some light, so seeing wasn't a problem. I'll have to use the Auto On feature of the headlights and let them turn on and off when it's appropriate.

As we were waiting for the cop to arrive at my window, I told my son several "funny" things I could say to him. "Sorry, officer, but I had so much to drink that I didn't want to call attention to myself, so I left the lights off." "When I stole the car from the guy's driveway, I didn't want to turn the lights on and alert him." I also thought it might be funny to jabber at him in a made-up language, or to get out of the car screaming and waving my arms. My son thought it would be better not to make jokes.

I must say that I am always appalled at the number of American Police Officers that are killed during routine traffic stops, it certainly is a sad commentary of society today.

Personally, I think humour is a great way to lessen a tense situation and being pulled by a Police Officer is a tense situation as nobody wants a ticket! The delivery of the humorous line is the tricky part which I think having read many of Jerry's posts he would be capable of doing.

The Police Officer is probably going over a few funny lines back there in the patrol car before he approaches. The officers are not robots, they're your neighbours, a little more levity would go a long way to everyone getting along.

Just my opinion but I saw a lot in my 36 years as a Police Officer and I think my sense of humour saved my a$$ a good number of times.