Tema 35: night driving and poor visibility in the DGT exam

At night you see less, are seen less and are more tired. Learn what to do with your lights and which mistakes the eye makes.

Reviewed on 6 October 2026 · sources: BOE and DGT

At night you see less, are seen less and are more tired. The exam asks what you do with your lights and which mistakes the eye makes. The DGT manual teaches the following.

You switch to dipped beam (luz de cruce) as soon as you could dazzle someone, including the driver ahead through his mirror.
If you are dazzled, do not look at the headlights: you prolong the temporary blindness.
At night, a pedestrian outside a built-up area (poblado) wears a light or reflective item visible at 150 m.
At night you see only two lights: you underestimate speed and closeness, and with one bulb out you look like a motorbike.
Wild animals move at dusk and dawn and you only see them by their eyeshine: slow down.

Watch out: less traffic does not compensate, because the share of fatal pedestrian crashes is higher.

In DrivingLingo: study the warning signs, review lighting and rain, fog and snow, then practise with the .

Source: DGT manual (teaching, not statute)

Key rules of topic 35

Glare and the eye

You switch to dipped beam as soon as you could dazzle someone, including the driver ahead through his mirror.

If you are dazzled, do not look at the headlights: you prolong the temporary blindness.
The eye takes time to adapt from light to darkness; sunglasses leave even less light.
With age less light reaches the retina and recovery from glare takes longer.

Source: RGC art. 102.2; DGT, Manual del Permiso B, «Conducir de forma segura»

Being seen at night

At night, a pedestrian outside a poblado (built-up area) wears a light or reflective item visible at 150 m.

Groups add lights on the calzada (carriageway) side: white or yellow in front, red behind.
Cycles, except bicycles, carry position lights and reflectors.
At night you see only two lights: you underestimate speed and closeness, and with one bulb out you look like a motorbike.

Source: RGC art. 123; RGV art. 22.2; DGT, Manual del Permiso B, «Conducir de forma segura»

Night-time risks

The small hours are the low point of alertness: the body clock imposes it even if you have slept.

Another vehicle's tail lights show what its driver decides to do, not the line of the road.
With more speed and less light, attention narrows to the centre: tunnel effect hides pedestrians, animals and side signs.
Wild animals move at dusk and dawn and you only see them by their eyeshine: slow down.

Source: DGT, Manual del Permiso B, «El estado del conductor» y «Velocidad y distancias»

Learn the rule, then practise it

Study topic 35 step by step: the rule, its citation and exam-style questions.

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