Night driving — Utah Permit Test

A driver with high beams on must dim them before coming within 500 feet of an oncoming car.

High beams blind the oncoming driver for several seconds, and they are steering toward you the whole time.

If your vehicle’s high beam lights are on and a car is coming toward you, dim your lights before you get within 500 feet of the oncoming car.

A driver following another car must dim their lights when within 300 feet of the vehicle ahead.

High beams fill the mirror of the car in front and leave that driver looking at your headlights rather than the road.

If you are following a car, dim your lights when you are within 300 feet of the vehicle ahead of you.

Headlights and taillights must be illuminated from sunset to sunrise, or when people and vehicles are not clearly visible at 1,000 feet ahead.

Lights are as much about being seen as about seeing. The distance is the test, not whether you feel you need them.

If your vehicle is being operated on a highway at any time from sunset to sunrise, or when persons and vehicles on the highway are not clearly discernible at a distance of 1,000 feet ahead due to insufficient light or unfavorable atmospheric conditions.

A driver should increase their following distance at night by at least two seconds.

At night you see less far, so you need more time. Doubling the usual gap is what buys it.

Increase your following distance at night by at least two seconds.

Where an oncoming vehicle does not dim its lights, a driver should look at the right side of the road to avoid being blinded.

Looking away from the glare keeps your night vision. The white line at the edge is still enough to steer by.

If an oncoming vehicle does not dim, look at the right side of the road. This helps avoid being blinded by the headlights.

A driver should not wear sunglasses or colored lenses at night, because tinted lenses reduce the light needed for good vision.

There is barely enough light at night as it is. Anything over your eyes takes some of what is left.

Do not wear sunglasses or colored lenses at night. Tinted or colored lenses reduce the light you need for good vision.

At night a driver should keep their eyes searching the road ahead for dark shapes and should glance left and right for the edge of the pavement and roadside hazards.

At night a hazard is a shape before it is a thing. Searching for shapes is how you see it in time.

Keep your eyes searching the road in front of your vehicle and look for dark shapes on the roadway.

Utah law requires a reasonable and prudent speed, which at night can mean the posted speed limit is too fast.

The posted limit assumes you can see. At night your headlights decide how far ahead that actually is.

That means, especially at night, if you drive the posted speed limit, it may be too fast.

How far from an oncoming car must a Utah driver dim their high beams?

Before 500 feet. High beams blind the oncoming driver for several seconds, and they are steering toward you the whole time. Utah Driver Handbook 2026-2027, p.60: “If your vehicle’s high beam lights are on and a car is coming toward you, dim your lights before you get within 500 feet of the oncoming car.”