What devices must your vehicle have to legally drive at night?

To legally drive at night, your vehicle must be equipped with headlights and taillights. Headlights are essential for illuminating the road ahead, ensuring that you can see and be seen by other drivers, particularly in low visibility conditions like nighttime, fog, or inclement weather. Taillights, on the other hand, are critical for signaling your presence to vehicles behind you, which helps prevent rear-end collisions and informs other drivers of your actions, such as when you are slowing down or coming to a stop.

While brake lights, signals, hazard lights, fog lights, and reverse lights all play important roles in vehicle operation and safety, they do not replace the fundamental requirement for headlights and taillights when it comes to nighttime driving. Each of these other lights serves specific functions, but without functioning headlights and taillights, a vehicle does not meet the basic legal requirements for night driving safety.