Headlights to be seen — Maine Permit Test

Headlights to be seen on the Maine permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

By Maine law, you must turn on your headlights whenever visibility is too dim to see 1,000 feet ahead.

On a gray day a car without lights blends into the road and is seen too late.

By Maine law whenever visibility is too dim for you to see 1000 feet ahead or at any time when windshield wipers are in constant use you must turn on the headlights

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.90

By Maine law, your headlights must be on any time your windshield wipers are in constant use.

In steady rain the car's gray shape disappears into the spray unless its lights are on.

By Maine law whenever visibility is too dim for you to see 1000 feet ahead or at any time when windshield wipers are in constant use you must turn on the headlights

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.90

By Maine law, you must have your headlights on when driving any time from sunset to sunrise.

At dusk the road is still bright to you, but your unlit car is hard for others to pick out.

By Maine law you must have headlights on when driving anytime from sunset to sunrise.

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.90

Driving with only the parking lights on is not good driving practice.

Parking lights are too dim to light the road and make a moving car look parked.

It is not a good driving practice to operate a motor vehicle with only the parking lights on.

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.90

Turn on your headlights in daytime when driving away from a rising or setting sun, so others can see you.

Drivers facing the sun behind you can barely see a car that shows no lights.

When driving away from a rising or setting sun.

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.90

In Maine, motorcyclists must always have their headlights on when riding on the road.

A single small headlight is often the only thing that makes a motorcycle stand out in traffic.

Motorcyclists are always required to have their headlights on when operating a motorcycle on Maine roadways.

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.90

On the test

By Maine law, headlights must be on whenever you cannot see how far ahead?

1,000 feet. On a gray day a car without lights blends into the road and is seen too late. Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.90: “By Maine law whenever visibility is too dim for you to see 1000 feet ahead or at any time when windshield wipers are in constant use you must turn on the headlights”

How this works

Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.

You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.

Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.

What it costs

  • One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
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  • Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
  • Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
  • Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.

All Maine permit topics

Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Maine Driver’s License Manual, published by the Maine Secretary of State, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.