High beam headlights, like most parts of a car, are designed to keep you safe. Using your high beams in a very dark area will improve your visibility dramatically; drivers can also use high beams to warn oncoming motorists of their presence or other hazards. However, because of their very brightness, high beams can also be dangerous. Massachusetts driving law includes specific, defined instances in which high beams can and cannot be used.
High beam headlights allow you to see more than three times as far as ordinary headlights. Massachusetts law requires that you only use your high beams in dark or remote areas where it is difficult or impossible to see the road otherwise. When driving in fog, you are required to use your low beams rather than your high beams as high beams will reflect back at you and further reduce your driving vision.
Massachusetts law stipulates that you must lower your high beams when you are within 500 feet of an oncoming driver. You must also dim your brights within 350 feet of cars moving in the same direction, from people or other "substantial" objects, or inside a Massachusetts Turnpike tunnel. You may remind an oncoming driver to dim his high beams by briefly flicking your own brights on and off.
The Massachusetts Complaint Manual, Chapter 540, Section 22.05, cites as a violation the fact that a driver failed to "dim the headlamps of such vehicle so that no dangerous or dazzling light [is] measured 75 feet or more ahead of the lamps." This is true for those super-bright aftermarket Halogen lights, even if they're not used as high beams. Also illegal are flashing lights that may cause others to mistake your car for a police vehicle.
Generally, the fine for a first high beam offense is $35. A second offense is $75, and a third is $150. Be aware that, according to Massachusetts traffic law, any offense involving "improper use of headlights" is subject to a fine.
