You must drive through thick fog. Which headlights should you use?
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A.
High beams for better reach.
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B.
Low beam headlights. Correct
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C.
Parking lights only.
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D.
Hazard flashers, no headlights.
The answer is "Low beam headlights."
Fog scatters light back at you, so low beams are the setting the manual names. Choice A tempts drivers who assume farther reach must mean better vision, but high beams reflect off the fog and cut visibility rather than extending it.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. High beams for better reach.
High beams reflect off water droplets in fog and make the road harder to see. This answer treats headlight reach as the only variable, ignoring how light bounces back off water droplets.
C. Parking lights only.
Parking lights are for a stopped vehicle, not for driving through fog. This answer mistakes a stationary-use light for a driving light.
D. Hazard flashers, no headlights.
Flashers do not replace headlights while the vehicle is still moving under power. This answer applies the pull-off-and-secure step meant for parked vehicles to a car that is still driving.
This question tests your knowledge of Adverse Conditions in North Carolina. Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, "Chapter 4 - Fog," p.73..
Related North Carolina questions
- In North Carolina, you must turn on your headlights any time you are: →
- 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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