Headlights — Wisconsin Permit Test

A driver must use low beams when a vehicle or person 500 feet away, about one block, cannot be seen.

The point is being seen as much as seeing. If the road has gone that dim, so has your car.

You cannot see a vehicle or person that is 500 feet (about one block) away

Low beams must be used from a half hour past sunset to a half hour before sunrise.

The sky still looks light for a while after the sun has gone. The rule fixes a time so nobody has to judge it.

It is a half hour past sunset to half hour before sunrise

Wisconsin recommends using low beams whenever the windshield wipers are running, and in rain, snow or fog.

Rain hides a car long before it hides the road. Lights make yours the one other drivers pick out.

You are using your windshield wipers

High beams let a driver see twice as far as low beams, and must be switched back to low when a vehicle comes toward you.

Your brights land in the other driver's eyes and blind them for a moment. Dipping them is what keeps both cars on the road.

Let you see twice as far as low beams/headlights

A driver facing someone who has left their high beams on should look toward the right side of the road.

Looking at the lights leaves you blind for several seconds. The right edge gives you something to steer by instead.

If someone is driving toward you and forgets to turnoff their brights, look toward the right side of the road

At what distance of poor visibility must Wisconsin headlights be on?

500 feet, about one block. The point is being seen as much as seeing. If the road has gone that dim, so has your car. Wisconsin Motorists' Handbook, p.21: “You cannot see a vehicle or person that is 500 feet (about one block) away”