Rained quite thoroughly yesterday, with a brief hour or so midday for a sun break. At times the rain was so heavy that it obscured the cars in front of me -- always a time for being extra alert. The worst time is when you can't see the cars in front and you can't see the lines demarcating one lane of traffic from another, either. When you get close enough, their cars appear in front of you out of the gloom and the water spray.

I'll never understand why other drivers don't turn on their lights in weather like that. More than once I found myself closing the gap to an uncomfortable distance discovered only when their brake lights came on. My guess is that they don't turn on their lights because 1) it's daylight and by gum the law says I don't have to, and 2) I might forget to turn them off when I secure the vehicle.

Or, worse, they don't think at all but just drive on auto pilot, chatting on their cell phones and texting their buddies.

File under "Why I Drive Defensively".

Christine is right. It is the law in California that if you have to use your windshield wipers, you have to use your headlights. A law honored in the breach as much as in the observance....