Nachtfahrt (night-driving lesson)
Also known as: Night-driving special-purpose lesson · Dämmerungsfahrt
The Nachtfahrt is one of the three German Sonderfahrt types in Klasse B: three mandatory hours at dusk or in darkness. It trains beam-switching, eye adaptation, and reduced-visibility behaviour.
The Nachtfahrt — formally “lesson at dusk or in darkness” — covers three compulsory hours. Contents per Annex 3 FahrschAusbO:
- Lighting routines before driving off,
- Switching between dipped and main beam,
- Behaviour when oncoming traffic uses main beam,
- Adapting speed to reduced visibility (“driving on sight”),
- Spotting pedestrians and cyclists who carry no lights of their own.
Statistics show that night-time accidents tend to be disproportionately serious — the Nachtfahrt is therefore more than a compulsory-hours line item. It builds awareness of how visual range collapses after dark and how lighting decisions affect everyone else on the road.
Scheduling note: in summer the lesson can only start late in the evening, because dusk formally begins around sunset — that limits flexibility for both school and student.
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