That's how I read it. I don't see that he did anything wrong. When a driver makes an illegal maneuver it does sometimes boil down to nothing but having luck at that moment to avoid a collision. We ride defensively at times, aggressively at times always alert and aware but motor vehicle of all sizes are just too fast and unpredictable to do any more than the best we can in the rapidly changing situations to stay alive. That's where the definition of "luck" as "being given a chance to use your preparation" comes into play.

He wasn't technically wrong for not having his lights on, but it's good that he remained unscathed learning the lesson that it's best to use everything you have to move along without incident.