Today brought several emotions for me. About 0930 I found out that an old friend that I saw about 2 months ago fell dead from a heart attack and his funeral was today. I went by his grave after work and said my goodbyes. Later in the day I had a missed call from a brother on here and called him back as he traveled the busy roads to his work away from home. It's always good to talk to him and I truly claim him as my brother. Then on the way home I end up behind a Ford Expedition, on a 2 lane county road, that has the black out covers on his brake/tail light lenses. 3 different times he had to get on his brakes hard and fast. And my blood boiled.

Here I have just heard of the death of a friend, talked to a friend that commutes 150 miles from his family to work and then get behind a stupidsonofabitch that blacks out his brake lights. I couldn't do anything for my friend that passed nor could I do much for my traveling friend except tell him to be on his toes but then I encounter this cockwad that has INTENTIONALLY endangered himself and whomever is behind him by installing dark covers over lenses that are intended to display BRIGHT lights when the brakes are applied. I wanted to drag this sonofabitch out of his vehicle and stomp his guts out before putting a bullet between his eyes.

I ain't been this tore up in a while but weighing all 3 scenarios in the span of a few hours just spins me into orbit.

And FWIW, if you have these blackout kits on your vehicles I hope you get run the Hell over, injured to the point of never being able to drive again and have to pay any injured party enough to the point that their grand kids never have to work.
Rant over.

I am Sorry to hear of the passing of your friend. Praying, that you and his family to find comfort and peace.

Dangum.
Just throw an Outback fit.
Sorry about the loss, bro.
As for the moron. Stupid seems to be all the rage these days.

I knew that was you back there, just trying to keep you on your toes.

Sorry to hear about your friend

Sorry to hear about your friend, truly. Those taillight covers ? Illegal here in Tenn. though traffic violations aren't my thing now, I still will pull them over, ticket, and when they come to court they have to show proof of removal, (Deputy has to inspect) court cost. Second violation, it gets in their pocket book heavy. I hate'em too

Sorry about your friend Wiley.

Regarding the covers on the tail lights... remember when I totaled my Tacoma back in November cause I ran into the guy ahead of me? Zoom in on the pic below and look at his tail lights...

Claims Rep,
I hope you pointed that out to the officer and your insurance company.
The other driver should be at fault for causing that accident.
I'm with Wiley, they should be shot for blacking out brake lights / tail lights. They're SUPPOSED to be bright RED for a reason!

That's a lot of hatred....

Would be good PC if you needed to stop a vehicle.

That's actually mild for Wiley. He didn't mention anything about ant hills, rusty nails, horse whips or fire pits.

So sorry for your loss, Wiley. I guess I don't get out much; I don't even know what you are talking about regarding the brake lights. It sounds like it should be illegal on a public road.

I can't believe you haven't seem them, Steve.
A bunch of young ElMorons are sporting them. They are blackout covers that fit over the tail & brake lights. You can also blackout the headlighs, but they tend to prefer using those bright blue annoying headlights.
Stupid is all the rage.

yeah those dark lense covers are dangerous but on the flip side of that coin if you werent tailgating him it wouldnt matter in the least. I guarantee you following too close causes 100x more wrecks than those lights do.

I would love to reply, but I won't rob Wiley of the pleasure of ripping your stupidity out

do they totally block out the tail/brake lights????

Write them lil bastards enough tickets and tow the cars and they will quit.

Hell i bitch all the time about vehicles that don't have the yellow rear blinker lights. I can't stand the ones that blink same as brake lights.

Not enough LEO do the kind of tickets that need to be written.
I'd love to see more "driving slow in the left lane"tickets written. I'm surprised no one has sued the company that makes the blackout accessories. If they are a clear danger they need to be illegal.

I've had some encounters in T-town with those darkened tail lights.
When its a sunny day it definitely makes brake lights hard to see and the way people have forgotten to use their turn signals nowadays you better not be easily distracted when behind them

Sorry to hear about your friend, Marlon.