Required headlights and tail lights — Montana Permit Test

Required headlights and tail lights on the Montana permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

In Montana, vehicles built after January 1, 1956 must show white or amber light to the front and red or amber light to the rear.

Lights of the wrong color confuse other drivers about which way your car is facing.

Vehicles manufactured after January 1, 1956, must emit white or amber light to the front and red or amber light to the rear, visible for 500 feet.

Montana Driver Manual, p.14

Headlights and tail lights must be visible for 500 feet.

A taillight that cannot be seen from far back gives a fast driver behind you too little time to slow.

Vehicles manufactured after January 1, 1956, must emit white or amber light to the front and red or amber light to the rear, visible for 500 feet.

Montana Driver Manual, p.14

Headlights and tail lights may not be tinted or covered with tinted or colored material, unless it is original or optional equipment that meets federal rules.

A smoked lens cover dims your taillights so the car behind sees them too late.

Headlights and tail lights may not be tinted, covered by, or treated with a tinted or colored material, substance, system, or component unless part of the original or optional equipment is in compliance with federal manufacturers' regulations.

Montana Driver Manual, p.14

Headlights should light up people or vehicles 350 feet ahead on high beam.

Beams that reach too short a distance leave a deer in the road unseen until it is too late to stop.

Headlights should be capable of illuminating persons or vehicles for a distance of 350 feet on high beam and 100 feet on low beam.

Montana Driver Manual, p.14

Headlights should light up people or vehicles 100 feet ahead on low beam.

On low beams you see much less road, so a driver who forgets that outruns the lights.

Headlights should be capable of illuminating persons or vehicles for a distance of 350 feet on high beam and 100 feet on low beam.

Montana Driver Manual, p.14

On the test

What color light must a vehicle's tail lights show to the rear?

Red or amber. Lights of the wrong color confuse other drivers about which way your car is facing. Montana Driver Manual, p.14: “Vehicles manufactured after January 1, 1956, must emit white or amber light to the front and red or amber light to the rear, visible for 500 feet.”

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

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Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Montana Driver Manual, published by the Montana Department of Justice, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.