How many feet away should you switch from high beam to low beam headlights when approaching a vehicle coming towards you?
- 900 feet.
- 700 feet.
- 500 feet. ✓
Answer: C. 500 feet.
Switch from high beams to low beams when an approaching vehicle is within 500 feet.
Why this is the answer
The California handbook states that when a vehicle is coming toward you, you dim your high beams to low beams within 500 feet. That distance is the rule the question is testing. The same passage gives a different distance for following another vehicle, but the question asks about an approaching vehicle, so the approaching-vehicle figure applies.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. 900 feet. — 900 feet is not the handbook's dimming distance for an oncoming vehicle; the stated distance is shorter.
- B. 700 feet. — 700 feet is not the handbook's dimming distance for an oncoming vehicle; the stated distance is shorter.
Remember it
Think "meet at five hundred": high beams go low when an oncoming car is within 500 feet.