In North Carolina, you must turn on your headlights any time you are:
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A.
Using your windshield wipers because of inclement weather. Correct
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B.
Following a large truck within 300 feet.
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C.
Driving on any highway with a posted limit above 55 mph.
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D.
Running the defroster to clear the front window.
The answer is "Using your windshield wipers because of inclement weather."
The trigger the state names is the wipers themselves. Any time inclement weather has your wipers on, your headlights come on too. Drivers reach for choice C because some states pair mandatory headlights with limited-access highways or a speed threshold, and that habit carries over into a rule that has nothing to do with speed.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. Following a large truck within 300 feet.
No headlight requirement follows from following distance behind a truck. This answer mixes a truck no-zone concern with the separate headlight rule.
C. Driving on any highway with a posted limit above 55 mph.
Ties headlight use to a speed threshold, which the manual does not use. This answer carries a habit from states that require headlights on all divided highways or above a set posted speed.
D. Running the defroster to clear the front window.
The switch the manual names is the wipers, not any other weather-related control. This answer substitutes a different rainy-weather control for the one the rule actually pairs with headlights.
This question tests your knowledge of Adverse Conditions in North Carolina. Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, "Chapter 4 - Windshield Wipers/Headlights," p.73..
Related North Carolina questions
- You must drive through thick fog. Which headlights should you use? →
- Fog leaves you with extreme trouble seeing, so you pull far off the road, stop, and turn on your flashers. How do you exit the vehicle? →
- On snowy or icy roads, how much stopping distance should you allow compared with dry pavement? →
- The manual recommends that on packed snow, you cut your speed by: →
- As temperatures drop toward freezing, which stretches of road ice over first? →
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