Unit 4: Section 2
Night and Rural Driving
You should be very careful of your surroundings when driving. Night driving can make it difficult
to see and predict obstacles ahead of you in the road. Rural driving may seem simple, but the
conditions and nature of some country roads can lead to special challenges and obstacles.
Sign Starter Question
Every lesson has a reading assignment. There is an interactive portion that you need to complete
to get credit for your reading assignment. The first section of the interactive portion asks you to
identify the sign. There will be a sign identification portion on your written test that you will take
at the BMV. You must pass this portion in order to get your license. *If you are not sure about the
name of a sign, then check Indiana Driver’s Manual Chapter 4. What sign is this?
Curfew
The State of Indiana has a curfew for nighttime driving. Unsupervised teen drivers 18 and under
can’t drive their vehicles between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights into the
following morning. Also, no driving is allowed between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Saturday and
Sunday mornings. The only exceptions for that rule is if the driver is going to or from work, school
activities, or a religious event.
Visibility
Visibility is the biggest added challenge when driving at night. Pedestrians, other vehicles, and
animals can be much harder to see and identify at night. This means that you may have less time
to react to these hazards. One way to account for this is to drive at a slower speed. Slower
speeds mean that you will have more time to identify obstacles in the road. Reducing your speed
at night increases your safety.
Headlights are the biggest tool that we use to fight visibility issue. This is why headlights are
required in low visibility situations. Headlights are required between sunset and sunrise. Under
normal circumstances you want to use your high beam headlights to guarantee maximum visibility.
Headlights are also necessary anytime that visibility is less than 500 feet. Therefore you should
always use your headlights at night, during the rain, during the snow, or during fog. However,
you should make sure to use your low beam headlights in snow and fog conditions.
Your Headlights and Other Cars
Your headlights can actually be harmful to the visibility of other cars. Glare can make it very
difficult to see when a car is coming towards you or following closely behind you. Therefore, you
are required to use your low beam headlights to reduce the glare that you are producing for
other cars.
When you are approaching a vehicle, you must switch to your low beam headlights within 500
feet of an oncoming vehicle. When you are following another car, you are required to switch to
your low beams within 200 feet of the vehicle in front of you.
The red car has his low-beam headlights on because he is less than 200 feet from the green car.
The blue car has his high-beam headlights on. He will need to turn them off before he gets within
500 feet of the green car.
Sometimes you will be put in a situation where another car’s headlights are producing a glare
that is making it hard for you to see. This can happen if another car leaves their high beams on
as they are approaching you. It can also occur if your windshield isn’t clean, or if there is a lot of
snow or fog.
If you are put into a situation where you are experiencing a lot of glare, then you should try and
focus on the road in front of you. If you stare at the other cars headlights, then you can get
blinded. Look away from the light.
You should drive at slower speeds at night so that
you don’t overdrive your headlights. Overdriving
your headlights occurs when you are driving too
fast. The light from your headlights extends only so
far in front of your car. The faster you are going
the less time this gives you to react to obstacles
ahead.
If the distance that you can see with your headlights
is shorter than the distance that it would take you to
stop, then you won’t be able to stop in time to miss
an obstacle. This is called overdriving your
headlights.
Rural Driving
When you are driving in rural settings, unpredictable road conditions and obstacles can appear
at any time. Rural roads could be made of pavement, gravel, or some mixture of the two. Rural
road conditions can change suddenly and obstacles can appear out of nowhere. On rural roads
you always expect the unexpected.
Therefore, always be especially cautious when driving on an unfamiliar road. Special caution
should be taken on hills and curves. You should stay as far right as you safely can when going
around a curve or up a hill on a country road. If you can’t see if there is an obstacle in the road
ahead, then you should assume that there is one.
Ask Your Parents
Animals can come out of nowhere, especially in rural areas. Ask your parents if they have had
any close calls with animals and if they have any tips for avoiding them.
Right of Way Quiz
Every lesson has a reading assignment. There is an interactive portion that you need to complete
to get credit for your reading assignment. Each interactive portion has a question about the Right
of Way Quiz. To get credit for this question you must identify the color of the car that has the
right of way in the following example.
A red car and a green car are both stopped at an intersection and turning left. Who has the
right of way?