You can have the most expensive headlights on your car, but at the end of the day they’re only as good as how well they let you see when it’s dark.
However, if you’re unaware of how far your headlights can shine, you may wish to learn more so that you can be better prepared during night driving. If so, keep reading!
How Far Should Headlights Shine?
How far your headlights should shine depends on which headlights you’re using. Low beams or dipped lights should shine about 150 to 200 feet ahead, while high beams or brights should shine about 350 to 400 feet ahead. Fog lights don’t have to illuminate the road ahead, they just have to be placed at a certain height for effectiveness.
Learn everything you need to know about how far your headlights have to shine, including looking at each type, alignment and more by reading below!
How Far Should Your Headlights Shine While on High Beam (Brights)?
High beam headlights, also known as brights, should light up the road ahead of you for about 350 to 400 feet or 107 to 122 meters.
This is about two times the distance required for regular headlights, because high beams are recommended for when you’re driving fast.
In these situations, high beams let you see farther ahead so you get more time to react to anything on the road.
Their lighting distance also makes them good for when you’re driving in areas with low environmental lighting such as rural roads, off road terrain and similar areas.
How Far Do Low Beam Headlights Shine?
Low beams or dipped headlights need to shine for between 150 and 200 feet or 46 to 61 meters ahead.
This distance changes depending on where you are, but most regulatory bodies have set requirements that fall within it.
For example, the NHTSA and DOT have said that low beams should shine about 160 feet or 49 meters ahead.
This is about half the range required for high beam lights, as low beams are supposed to be used in areas that have a lot of environmental lighting (ex. cities or freeways with street lights).
They’re also more appropriate for when you’re driving slower like you would in urban settlements, where you could work with less reaction time.
The shorter beam distance of low beams also makes sense, as they’re meant to light up the road right ahead of you more than anything else, as that’s taken care of by the lighting surrounding your field of vision.
How Far Should Dipped Headlights Shine in the UK?
According to the International Driving Authority, whose offices are based in the UK, dipped headlights should shine between 40 and 50 meters or 131 to 164 feet ahead. This is close to the usual range for dipped headlights established above.
How Far Should Your Headlights Shine While on Low Beam According to Quizlet?
Under one of its drivers’ ed test quizzes, Quizlet says that you should use your low beams when driving behind another vehicle within 300 feet and when you’re within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle.
Taking this to mean that you should keep your light from affecting the other drivers for longer than necessary, this information falls in line with the figures previously mentioned in this article.
Therefore, according to Quizlet, your low beam headlights should shine about 200 feet ahead.
How Far Should Fog Lights Shine?
Fog lights don’t actually have to shine for long distances like other headlights for them to be effective, which is why this metric isn’t generally used to measure it.
Think of fog lights less like headlights and more like tail lights- their primary purpose is to indicate rather than illuminate.
Fog lights will show you some of the road ahead, but they’re best suited for alerting other people on the road to your presence.
Fog is actually just a cloud that hangs low but rarely touches the ground. This is why fog lights are placed so close to the bottom of the car- so they only have to get through as little fog as possible.
With this in mind, you can understand why the placement of fog lights is less about how far they can shine and more about how far from the ground they can get before losing their effectiveness.
This also explains why they’re usually placed underneath the headlights. Most experts recommend that you have your fog lights between 10 and 24 inches or 25 to 61 centimeters.
How High Should Your Headlights Be Aimed?
What constitutes properly aimed headlights depends on the type of vehicle you have, as a coupe and an 18 wheeler will not have the same ideal angle. For this reason, you should consult with your owner’s manual to know the ideal height to aim your headlights.
For most passenger cars, however, proper aim is when the beam is aligned with the center of the headlight lenses.
To check whether this is the case, shine the light onto a wall that’s 5 feet or 1.5 meters away and mark the area it hits.
Move the car back so it’s 25 feet or 7.6 meters and mark the area again. If the marks are within the same area, then your headlights are aligned and aimed properly.
If you want to know more, you might also be interested in reading up on whether or not LED headlights are better, how long do LED headlights last, and what headlights to use in fog.
Conclusion
Your low beam headlights should shine between 150 and 200 feet ahead or 46 to 61 meters. High beams should be about twice this, at between 350 and 400 feet or 106.7 to 121.9 meters. These different values are advantageous in the different scenarios where each type of light is to be used.