While I was on the Boston campus I was often witness to empty cars parked near campus buildings with distress lights blinking. It’s tempting to believe that this was a precautionary measure taken by the driver to indicate to the university police that “yes officer, I know I’m parked illegally but as you can see by my blinking distress lights, I only intend to be parked here for a moment.” But as far as I could tell they weren’t parked illegally, there was blue parking lot paint marking off individual vehicle space. I’ve decided that blinking lights were used as an indication of how much it meant to the driver to be parked where they were. I imagined a passing cop who noticed a parked car without lights blinking would promptly write a ticket for $50. On the other hand, if the parked car had distress lights on, this would mean the driver cared so much about being parked where they were that they were willing to waste battery juice. A passing cop would leave a blinking car alone, with the rationalization that with the money being saved by not having to pay a $50 fine, the driver would have to buy a new battery.