I Can See Clearly Now… You’re An Idiot

I’m a police officer. We are driving a patrol around the area when a car driving on the opposite side of the road coming toward us starts flashing its lights. Thinking the driver might need assistance, we stop in the road, our window level with his.

Me: “Is there a problem, sir?”

Man: “Why haven’t you got your lights on?”

Me: “Why would we need our lights on, sir?”

Man: “It’s the law; you have to have them on.”

It’s an overcast day, a little grey, but visibility is good and road conditions are good. In the UK, the highway code states that headlights must be used when visibility is seriously reduced to under 100 meters. However, this is nothing like today’s conditions.

Me: “Sir, the highway code states visibility of fewer than 100 meters.”

Man: “Yeah, so you should have your lights on, then!”

Me: “Pull over, sir, and we can talk.”

He is getting pretty aggressive, almost spitting at us. Something just doesn’t seem right, so we pull over to the side of the road. My partner drives out 100 meters and I point him out to the man.

Me: “He is around the distance you need to have lights on. Can you see the car clearly?”

Man: *Slightly smug* “No!”

Me: “Sir, do you have a set of prescription glasses you need to wear while driving?”

Man: “Well, I, err… left them at home.”

We got into it and eventually discovered that the man had severe sight problems, and he must wear strong glasses as part of his insurance.

Judging by his prescription, the guy was a massive risk on the road; if a child ran out in front of him, he wouldn’t have seen them until it was too late. With two schools between us and his house, it was a good job we caught him.

He argued and couldn’t see what he did wrong but he still ended up with points on his licence and a fine.

This story is part of our Best Of April 2021 roundup!

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