I am almost 100 percent sure what your problem is, i have an escort and the same thing happened. To make sure this is the problem look underneath where the brake and gas pedels are. Where the brake at the top of the brake pedel, if you push it in with your hand you can see a little white button almost that you can push in with your finger. Push it in and have some one stand behind the car ad see if the lights go off if they do then heres the problem, there is supposed to be a blue rubber stopper where the buttom is supposed to be pressed in when the brake is not being pushed, yours is most likley not there any more, and either needs to be replaced or I just glued two penies in the spot, but i needed a quick fix, you can most likley get the peice at and car parts store.

After you put back the terminal on the battery and go somewhere, the parking lights won't go off. So you have to unhook the battery when you get to where you are going, then hook up the battery to go elsewhere. Sometimes it won't start then. We are very mad at this thing for that which causes a lot of stress. Took it to a garage for a week and he said he couldn't find the trouble so we brought it home. Afraid to take it to another place because it might cause a arm and leg which we can't afford. Any suggestions anyone.