A childhood belief about cars

While driving down the road with my father, I pointed to the taillights of the car in front of us and asked, "Where do red lights come from?" He answered, "From other lights." Clearly he meant that the bulb wasn't red, but in fact a clear bulb, so what I was seeing as a red light was actually a clear bulb. But the way I interpreted it, I thought lights on cars got their energy from other lights, which explained the purpose of street lamps. They were the energy source that powered the car lights. Of course, I began to fear driving down any road that didn't have street lamps. I was grateful for the porch lights that kept powered up.