Night driving — New Hampshire Permit Test

Driving at night is more difficult and more hazardous than daytime driving, because the distance a driver can see is limited by the light from the headlights.

At night a driver can outrun their own headlights, arriving at a hazard sooner than they could see it.

The distance drivers can see is limited by light provided by the headlights.

A driver should use the high beams whenever there are no oncoming vehicles, and dim them for all approaching traffic.

High beams show far more of the road, and the only reason to drop them is that they blind the driver coming the other way.

Use the high beams whenever there are no oncoming vehicles and dim the high beams for all approaching traffic.

A driver should use the low beams when following another vehicle.

High beams fill the mirrors of the car ahead and take away the view of the road the driver in front is using.

Use the low beams when following another vehicle.

In fog, rain or snow a driver should use the low beams, because light from the high beams may cause glare and make it more difficult to see ahead.

High beams light up the fog itself and bounce it straight back, so the driver ends up seeing less rather than more.

In fog, rain, or snow, use the low beams. Light from the high beams may cause glare and make it more difficult to see ahead.

When an oncoming vehicle is traveling with its high beams on, a driver should look toward the right side of the road.

Looking away from the glare keeps one eye adjusted to the dark and gives you the edge of the road to steer by.

look toward the right side of the road to keep from being distracted or momentarily blinded by their headlights.

A driver should avoid looking directly into oncoming headlights by looking at the fog line or the edge of the roadway.

The painted line stays visible when everything else is washed out, so it is what a driver steers by through the glare.

Avoid looking directly into oncoming headlights by looking at the fog line or the edge of the roadway.

A driver should not wear sunglasses or colored lenses when driving at night or on overcast days, because tinted or colored lenses reduce vision.

Any tint takes light away, and at night there is none to spare.

Do not wear sunglasses or colored lenses when driving at night or on overcast days.

A driver should increase the following distance by at least one additional second for night driving conditions.

Everything is seen later at night, so the gap has to be longer to buy back the time that costs.

Increase the following distance by adding at least one additional second for night driving conditions and at least two additional seconds for driving on unfamiliar roadways at night.

A driver should add at least two additional seconds to the following distance for driving on unfamiliar roadways at night.

On a road you do not know, nothing warns you what is coming, so the extra second buys the reaction you would otherwise have had ready.

at least two additional seconds for driving on unfamiliar roadways at night.

A driver should try to search well ahead of the headlight beams, looking for dark shapes on the roadway such as pedestrians or animals.

A dark shape is all the warning you get at night, and it appears at the edge of the light rather than in the middle of it.

Try to search well ahead of the headlight beams, looking for dark shapes on the roadway such as pedestrians or animals.

What limits how far a driver can see at night?

The light provided by the headlights. At night a driver can outrun their own headlights, arriving at a hazard sooner than they could see it. New Hampshire Driver's Manual, p.18: “The distance drivers can see is limited by light provided by the headlights.”