M1 riders may only ride during daylight, one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset, so night riding does not apply at the M1 level. The handbook still teaches night-riding habits for later licence stages, and the M1 test may ask about them.
At night, visibility drops for everyone:
- Reduce speed and leave a larger gap from other vehicles.
- Keep your headlight clean and wear reflective clothing.
- Do not overdrive your headlight, that is, do not ride so fast that your stopping distance is longer than the distance the headlight lights up. If you cannot stop within what you can see, you are going too fast.
Memory hook: "ride within your light." If something appears at the edge of the headlight beam and you cannot stop in time, your speed is wrong.