| ||||||||||
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
 
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Deer in the headlights By Pen I found myself driving on a particularly twisty stretch of a two-lane Kentucky highway on the last day of June, just after dusk had given way to complete and full darkness. Amy and I had seen numerous deer on the drive already, and the early summer humidity was beginning to manifest as a low mist across the road from time to time. We've only had our current car since December, but I vaguely remembered that it came equipped with fog lights. I didn't want to try to turn them on while driving, because all the lights in the vehicle are controlled through a variety of touch screen inputs. So I suggested to Amy that as Navigator, maybe she should see if she could get them to come on. She located the tiny button on the center screen that provides quick access to headlights, pushed it once, and the main headlights went suddenly dark, reducing us to just the dim illumination of the Daytime Running Lights. I said in a rush "back on back on back on!" She pushed the screen again, saying frantically "I know-I'm trying-I'm trying!" The next button push plunged us into complete and total darkness as we drove along the winding two-lane country road at 45ish miles per hour. I said "backonbackonbackon!" even faster as I tried to remember where I last saw the road and Amy frantically mashed everywhere on the touchscreen. An agonizing second or two later, she did manage to get the headlights back on, illuminating a hillside in front of us as full of grazing deer as I've ever seen. I slowed even further and followed the road safely away from the herd, counting blessings and pretending I knew enough yoga to lower my heart rate with deep breathing. A few more milliseconds later, I remembered that I could probably have pulled the high-beam stalk to get the lights temporarily back on, but it hadn't occurred to me quickly enough to be useful. Later that night, safely back home, I recounted the experience to my younger son, who said, "No way you turned off the DRLs." I thought it was impossible on modern cars too, so I did some experimenting while I was parked in the driveway. It turns out that pressing the right sequence on the screen of my car will, in fact, turn off ALL exterior illumination. What I didn't see hidden behind Amy's hand when we were driving, was a message that subsequently pops up on the screen warning the driver "it looks as if it's dark out," and that "the manufacturer considers driving without headlights at night to be a potentially unsafe activity." This paragraph is followed by an ambiguous "OK/Cancel" dialog which disables any other changes to lighting until a selection is made. I'm still not sure if "Cancel" means "leave me alone I'm on a stakeout," or "Cancel what I did and turn the lights back on right now," but I do surely miss the days when any action that affected the lights on a car could be fixed immediately by reversing the same action. This story was posted on 2026-07-02 14:36:59
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic News:
Boil Water Advisory issued New $200M Distillery and Tourist Attraction opens in Somerset Boil Water Advisory lifted Adair County Cooling Stations High temperatures pose risk to Kentuckians ACFA presents Independence on the Grounds County Offices holiday schedule Another Boil Water Advisory issued Boil Water Advisory lifted Game wardens focus on boater safety over July 4 weekend View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
 
 
 
 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
