When your lights must be on
- Between sunset and sunrise
- Head lamps, rear lamps and number plate lampsNot just the headlights — three sets of lamps, together
- Any time visibility is poor
- When people and vehicles are not clearly discernible at 150 metresInsufficient light or unfavourable weather — rain, mist, dust, a dark storm at noon
- A motorcycle
- Headlamp lit at all times, day and night
- A parked vehicle
- Exempt in three situations onlyParked off the roadway, in a demarcated parking place, or within 12 metres of a lighted street lamp
- All lamps, always
- Undamaged, properly secured and capable of being lightedA blown bulb is a defect whether or not it is dark
The test is 150 metres, not the time on the clock
Sunset to sunrise is the easy half of the rule and the half everybody knows. The other half does more work.
Regulation 157(1)(b) also requires the lamps to be lit at any other time when, because of insufficient light or unfavourable weather conditions, people and vehicles on the road are not clearly discernible at a distance of 150 metres. That is a visibility test, and it can be met at two in the afternoon.
Heavy rain, mist, dust, smoke, a tunnel, a dark mountain pass: if you cannot pick out a person or a car 150 metres away, the lights go on. Waiting for the sun to set is the wrong trigger.
The same 150 metres turns up as an equipment standard. Every lamp the regulations require must emit light bright enough to be visible from at least 150 metres to a person of normal eyesight.
What each lamp is for
Four of these are lamps you choose to switch on. Getting them mixed up is the most common lighting fault a learner can name and still commit.
| Lamp | What the law requires of it | When you use it |
|---|---|---|
| Main beam (bright) | Must light up a person, vehicle or substantial object at least 100 metres ahead | Open road with nothing in front of you and nothing coming. Dip it the moment that changes |
| Dipped beam (dim) | Must light up a person, vehicle or substantial object at least 45 metres ahead, and must not cause a dangerous glare to oncoming traffic | Your normal driving light after dark, and whenever the main beam would dazzle somebody |
| Parking lamps | May be fitted front, rear or at each side | A stopped or parked vehicle. Never as your only light while moving |
| Fog lamps | A front fog lamp may emit only a dipped beam; a rear one can only come on with a front fog lamp or a head lamp | Only in poor visibility caused by snow, fog, mist, dust or smoke — using them otherwise is an offence |
| Daytime running lamps | Optional. Must switch off automatically when the head lamps are switched on | Nothing to operate — they are automatic, and they are not a substitute for headlights |
Dipping: the point the question turns on
Two different sources say two slightly different things here, and knowing which is which is worth more than blurring them together.
The regulation is narrow. Regulation 157(3) requires a driver to extinguish the main beam where it could cause a dangerous glare to oncoming traffic. Regulation 161(4)(b) puts the same duty on the dipped beam itself: even dipped, it must not dazzle somebody coming the other way.
The Department of Transport's own learner-driver manual goes one step further, and this is the version the syllabus teaches: dip the main beam for oncoming traffic, as well as when you are following another vehicle. The second half is the one learners forget. Your brights in the mirror of the car ahead are as blinding to that driver as they would be head-on — the light simply reaches their eyes by a different route.
So the working rule is: main beam only when there is nobody in front of you, in either direction.
Parking lamps are not driving lamps
Regulation 165(2) is one sentence long and it settles the question: no person shall operate a motor vehicle on a public road of which only the parking lamps are lighted while the vehicle is in motion.
That is the whole rule. Parking lamps exist so a stationary vehicle can be seen — regulation 162 lets you leave a stopped or parked car showing a dipped beam, or parking lamps, or fog lamps. The moment the car moves, they are not enough on their own.
The habit this rule is aimed at is switching to parking lamps at dusk because full headlights feel excessive. They are exactly the conditions regulation 157(1)(b) was written for, and parking lamps are the one answer the law rules out.
A motorcycle's headlamp is on all the time
Regulation 157(2) treats motorcycles separately, and the rule is simpler and stricter than the one for cars: a motorcycle, a motorcycle with a side-car, a motor tricycle or a motor quadrucycle may not be operated on a public road unless its headlamp is lit. Not after sunset — at all times.
The reason is conspicuity rather than seeing. A motorcycle presents a narrow outline to a driver looking for a gap, and a lit headlamp is what makes it register.
Only one exception exists, and you will not meet it: a machine manufactured before 31 December 1960, used only between sunrise and sunset.
The mistake
Treating the rule as a time of day. It is a visibility standard as well, and the visibility half is the one that catches drivers out in rain and mist at midday.
The second one is fog lamps. They are not spare headlights for a dark night — regulation 163(6) allows them to be lit only in poor visibility caused by snow, fog, mist, dust or smoke. On a clear night, front fog lamps add glare for everyone else and a rear fog lamp is genuinely dazzling to the car behind you.
The distances the law uses
- Main beam
- At least 100 metres ahead
- Dipped beam
- At least 45 metres ahead
- Visibility trigger for switching on
- 150 metresPeople and vehicles not clearly discernible at that distance
- Every required lamp
- Visible from at least 150 metresTo a person of normal eyesight
- Parked near a street lamp
- Within 12 metresOne of the three parking exemptions
See where your rules section stands
Lighting rules sit in the rules-of-the-road section, which is the largest of the three and passed on its own. The free readiness test scores each section separately, so you can see which one needs the work.
Take the free readiness testCommon questions
When must you switch your headlights on in South Africa?
Between sunset and sunrise, and at any other time when insufficient light or unfavourable weather means people and vehicles on the road are not clearly discernible at 150 metres. Regulation 157(1)(b) requires the head lamps, rear lamps and number plate lamps all to be lit.
When should you dip your headlights?
For oncoming traffic, and when you are following another vehicle. Regulation 157(3) makes it an offence to leave the main beam on where it could cause a dangerous glare to oncoming traffic, and the Department of Transport's learner-driver manual adds the vehicle you are following.
Can you drive with only your parking lights on?
No. Regulation 165(2) prohibits operating a vehicle on a public road with only the parking lamps lit while it is in motion. Parking lamps are for a stationary vehicle.
Do motorcycles have to ride with their headlight on during the day?
Yes. Regulation 157(2) requires the headlamp of a motorcycle, motor tricycle or motor quadrucycle to be lit at all times on a public road, day and night.
How far must a main beam light up the road?
Far enough to let the driver see a person, vehicle or substantial object at least 100 metres ahead. A dipped beam must manage at least 45 metres.
When may you use fog lamps?
Only in conditions of poor visibility caused by snow, fog, mist, dust or smoke. Driving with a fog lamp lit at any other time is an offence under regulation 163(6).
Do you need lights on a parked car?
Usually, but there are three exemptions: a vehicle parked off the roadway, in a parking place demarcated by road traffic signs, or within 12 metres of a lighted street lamp illuminating that road. Otherwise a stopped or parked vehicle must show a dipped beam, parking lamps or fog lamps.
Sources
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 157"Vehicles to be equipped with certain lamps and times when certain lamps to be lighted". (1)(a) all lamps undamaged, properly secured and capable of being lighted at all times; (1)(b) head lamps, rear lamps and number plate lamps kept lighted between sunset and sunrise and at any other time when, due to insufficient light or unfavourable weather conditions, persons and vehicles upon the public road are not clearly discernible at 150 metres, with the proviso exempting a vehicle parked off the roadway, in a demarcated parking place, or within 12 metres of a lighted street lamp; (2) a motor cycle, motor cycle with side-car, motor tricycle or motor quadrucycle must have its headlamp lighted at all times; (3) the main-beam must be extinguished if it could cause a dangerous glare to oncoming traffic.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulations 160 and 161Regulation 160(a): a main-beam must adequately illuminate the area ahead, enabling the driver to see any person, vehicle or substantial object at a distance of at least 100 metres. Regulation 161(4)(a): a dipped-beam must do the same at at least 45 metres; 161(4)(b): it must not cause a dangerous glare to oncoming traffic.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulation 165(2)"No person shall operate on a public road a motor vehicle of which only the parking lamps are lighted while such vehicle is in motion."
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulations 162, 163 and 164Regulation 162: a stopped or parked motor vehicle must show a dipped beam, or parking lamps, or two fog lamps. Regulation 163(6): no person shall operate a vehicle with a fog lamp lit except in conditions of poor visibility caused by snow, fog, mist, dust or smoke. Regulation 164: where parking lamps may be fitted.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 — regulations 158(2) and 161ARegulation 158(2): every lamp required by the regulations must emit light of sufficient brilliance to be visible from at least 150 metres to a person of normal eyesight. Regulation 161A: daytime running lamps may be fitted, and must switch off automatically when the head lamps are switched on.
- South African Learner Driver Manual, Department of Transport (v1.01, June 2012), Rules of the Road, sections 6.1 to 6.4The syllabus version of the lighting rules. Section 6.2: "Remember to dip the main-beam (bright) of your vehicle for oncoming traffic, as well as when following another vehicle." The duty to dip for a vehicle you are following comes from here, not from regulation 157(3), which addresses oncoming traffic only.
Last updated 2026-09-21.