Turn Off Those Lights!

[corkscrew]

This evening at about 8PM I was stopped at the traffic light at the Silom/Sathorn underpass intersection. I was the first car in the lane about to turn left onto Silom. A traffic cop jumped in front of all three lanes and ordered us to turn off our head lamps (using a hand gesture...a counter-clockwise hand movement...that 'said' cut your lights....though it could have been read to mean cut your ignition). Anyway, we did. Immediately thereafter a procession of cars carying the King of Jordan came off the expressway and went west on Silom.

Why did he want us to cut our lights? What sort of security was it providing? I suppose people with bad motives could hide behind headlights.

Anyway, it was curious....as I have never seen that hand motion before.