If you're in the Baton Rouge area and you get stopped by a cop because you have a burned-out tail light, there's a good chance you'll get some help versus getting a ticket.

There's a new program starting soon there called Lights On! and it's designed to help drivers. Basically, it allows police officers to give out vouchers to drivers to help pay for repairs if they have a broken tail light or burned-out turn signal.

The program is completely free to voucher recipients and it's supported by financial donations.

“Instead of giving a ticket, when a law enforcement officer stops a motorist, he or she will issue a voucher,” said Lights On! Vice President Sherman Patterson. “And what that does is it starts the communication. It starts. It helps them to talk with each other instead of at each other.”

JustAlexHalford via YouTube
JustAlexHalford via YouTube
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How does it work?

If you get pulled over by an officer for any light bulb-related malfunctions on your vehicle, instead of a ticket, you will get a voucher that will help cover the cost of getting the light fixed within 14 days.

“It will instruct them on how to redeem this voucher. And it’s good for $250,” said Chris Csonka, executive director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

There are five auto shops in the Capital City area that you will be able to use the voucher to get your lights fixed.

When does the program start?

Soon. Officials say the Lights On! program will start as soon as the vouchers arrive.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

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