Vehicle equipment — Kentucky Permit Test

A Kentucky motor vehicle must have brakes adequate to control, stop and hold it, with separate means of applying the brakes, each effective on at least two wheels.

Two independent systems mean one failure does not leave the car unable to stop at all.

There shall be separate means of applying the brakes, each of which shall be effective to apply the brakes to at least two wheels.

Kentucky requires headlights on high beam to light the road well enough to reveal a person 350 feet ahead, and 100 feet ahead on low beam.

Those distances are what gives a driver time to stop for someone walking in the dark.

Headlights on high beam must be strong enough to light the road sufficiently to reveal a person 350 feet ahead

A Kentucky taillight must be red, lighted, and placed so it can be seen 500 feet behind the vehicle.

Five hundred feet is how much warning the driver behind gets, and it is the reason a dead bulb is a real hazard.

The rear light, or taillight, must be red and must be lighted and placed so it can be seen 500 feet behind your vehicle.

Kentucky requires a mechanical signal device that shows an intention to stop or slow suddenly by lighting at least two red lights on the rear.

Two lights rather than one, so the car behind can tell braking from a single lamp burning out.

Motor vehicles are required to be equipped with a mechanical signal device that would indicate an intention to stop or suddenly decrease speed by illuminating at least two red lights on the rear of the vehicle.

A Kentucky registration plate must be kept legible at all times and must be illuminated at night.

A plate nobody can read is the same as no plate, and the light over it is part of the requirement.

The registration plate shall be kept legible at all times and must be illuminated at night.

Kentucky requires a windshield wiper on the driver's side, and a device for clearing rain, snow or other moisture from the windshield.

One working wiper on the driver's side is the minimum the law will accept.

A windshield wiper is also required on the driver’s side of the windshield.

Every Kentucky motor vehicle and bicycle used on a highway must have a horn loud enough to be heard under ordinary traffic conditions.

The rule covers bicycles too, because a rider needs a way to be heard by a driver who has not seen them.

Every motor vehicle, and bicycle, when in use on a highway, must be equipped with a horn or other device capable of making an abrupt sound sufficiently loud enough to be heard under ordinary traffic conditions.

A Kentucky vehicle must have one mirror mounted on the left side, and one mounted either inside near the center or on the right side.

Two mirrors is the floor, and where the second one sits is the driver's choice.

A vehicle must be equipped with one mirror mounted on the left side of the vehicle, and one mirror mounted either inside the vehicle approximately in the center or on the right side of the vehicle.

Kentucky requires mechanical turn signals in working order, and hand signals cannot be used.

An arm out of the window does not satisfy Kentucky law. The lamps have to work.

Your vehicle must have mechanical signals. Hand signals cannot be used.

A Kentucky muffler must be on the exhaust to cut noise and smoke while protecting the occupants from poisonous fumes.

The muffler is not only about noise. A leaking exhaust puts fumes into the car with the people in it.

A muffler must be on the exhaust to reduce noise and annoying smoke, while protecting the occupants from poisonous fumes.

It is unlawful in Kentucky to drive with any sign, sun screening material, product or covering on the windshield, apart from papers required by law and a strip at the top.

A windshield is for seeing through. The only things allowed on it are the ones the law puts there.

Only certificates or papers required by law and sun screening material along a strip at the top of the windshield are acceptable.

What does Kentucky require of a vehicle's braking system?

Separate means of applying the brakes, each effective on at least two wheels. Two independent systems mean one failure does not leave the car unable to stop at all. Kentucky Driver Manual, p.11: “There shall be separate means of applying the brakes, each of which shall be effective to apply the brakes to at least two wheels.”