An individual who does not possess an Arkansas driver license but intends to practice their driving skills while learning to drive must first obtain an instruction permit. Such permits are only valid while the unlicensed driver is driving with a parent, guardian or authorized licensed driver present inside the vehicle.
Instruction Permits (except Motorcycle Permits), Learner’s Licenses, Intermediate Licenses and Class D Licenses authorize an individual to operate an automobile or any other four-wheel vehicle with a gross weight rating (GVWR) under 26,001 pounds,
provided the vehicle is not designed to transport sixteen or more passengers (including the driver), and the vehicle is not transporting material defined as “hazardous material.”
For information concerning driver licensing for persons who may operate vehicles with a GVWR over 26,000 pounds, designed to transport sixteen or more passengers or transport “hazardous material,” please refer to the Arkansas Commercial Driver License Manual.
Instruction Permit – This permit allows a driver to operate a motor vehicle when accompanied by a licensed driver, twenty-one years of age or older, who is occupying a seat beside the driver, except in the event the permit holder is operating a motorcycle.
The applicant for an instruction permit must be at least fourteen years of age. To obtain the instruction permit, an applicant must pass the knowledge test and vision test. If the applicant is under the age of eighteen, a consent form signed by the applicant’s parent or legal guardian must be submitted along with grade and attendance forms from the applicant’s high school. The permit is issued for six months and can be renewed for an additional six month period if the applicant has not been
at fault in an accident or been convicted of a serious traffic violation within the
preceding six month period.
All passengers riding in a motor vehicle being operated by a person with an Instruction Permit must wear safety seat belts while the vehicle is operating.
Learner’s License – This license is a restricted license issued to persons between fourteen and sixteen years of age. The applicant must possess a valid Instruction Permit indicating successful completion of the required knowledge, vision and skills tests.
The applicant must not have been at fault in a traffic crash or been convicted of a serious traffic violation within the preceding six months prior to application. A person operating a motor vehicle with a Learner’s License must be accompanied by a licensed driver who is at least twenty-one years of age and all passengers riding in a motor vehicle being operated by a person with an Instruction Permit must wear safety seat belts while the vehicle is operating.
Intermediate License – This license is a restricted license issued to persons between sixteen and eighteen years of age. The applicant must possess a valid Instruction Permit indicating successful completion of the required knowledge, vision, and skills tests or a Learners License. The applicant must not have been at fault in traffic crash or been convicted of a serious traffic violation within the preceding six month period prior to application. All passengers riding in a vehicle being operated by a person with an
Intermediate License must wear safety seat belts while the vehicle is operating.
Class D License – This license is a non-restricted license issued to persons eighteen
years of age or older. The applicant must possess a valid Instruction Permit indicating
successful completion of the required knowledge, vision, and skills tests or an Intermediate
License. The applicant must not have been at fault in connection with a traffic crash
or been convicted of a serious traffic violation within the preceding twelve months
prior to application.
Class M License – This license is a non-restricted license issued to persons sixteen years of age or older to operate a motorcycle on public roadways. The applicant must possess a valid Instruction Permit indicating successful completion of all required knowledge, vision, and skills tests. The motorcycle skills test can be waived for an applicant successfully completing a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Riders Course within the preceding ninety day period prior to application.
Class MD License – This license is a restricted license issued to persons between fourteen and sixteen years of age. The applicant must possess a valid Instruction Permit indicating successful completion of all knowledge, vision, and skills tests. The
motor-driven skill test can be waived for an applicant successfully completing a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Riders Course within the preceding ninety day period prior to application. A person possessing a Class MD License is restricted to operating
motorcycles displacing 250-cubic centimeters or less.
Motorized Bicycles Certificate – This certificate is a restricted certificate issued to persons ten years of age or older. A person possessing a Motorized Bicycle Certificate is restricted to operating motorized bicycles or motorcycles displacing fifty centimeters
or less. The applicant must successfully complete knowledge, vision, and skills tests. The Motorized Bicycle Certificate skill tests can be waived for an applicant successfully completing a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Riders Course within the preceding ninety day period prior to application. A person possessing a Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, Intermediate, Learner’s, Class M or Class MD License can legally operate a motorized bicycle or motorcycles displacing fifty cubic centimeters or less.
What is Arkansas GDL? Arkansas Graduated Driver Licensing is a system for phasing in on-road driving, allowing beginners to get their initial experience under conditions that involve lower risk and introducing them in stages to more complex driving situations.
Take some time to watch the Young Drivers video here. See if your teen likes this video. If they do, they will love our Arkansas graduated driver licensing program.
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Remember when we were trying to teach our new teenagers as if we were traveling on a two-lane dirt road at 35 MPH, when our average traveled speed in Arkansas exceeds 55 MPH on a six-lane highway? Most families had a single vehicle in the fifties and sixties, and then to two vehicles in the seventies. The days of driving on weekends with mom and dad for the first year or two is over. In today’s hectic schedules, we are not allowing ourselves time to protect our Arkansas teens and teach them to drive as we should be. Parents need to realize that as the times change we must keep pace with that change.
Our driving generation, 35 to 50 years old, will be remembered as the worse driving generation in the history of the vehicle. We average 40,000 fatalities per year. Our generation needs to change the way we think and teach Arkansas graduated driver licensing.
If you look closely, you'll realize we spend about 12 years on basic education, reading writing, math, history and physical education…and only 6 hours behind the wheel training in a vehicle.
We need to be remembered as the generation that created the best Arkansas drivers in history. The generation that did something about the way we think and teach driver training. We need help from every mom and dad to complete this goal. We need to invest our time in our teenagers and take the time needed to teach our children to drive better.
This could mean as much as 1 or two years of guidance. And to do this you will need the very best Arkansas curriculum and training videos available. You will need to allow Arkansas graduated driver licensing to become part of your families dinner conversation and sharing experiences on new intersections, changes on the interstate on ramps or maybe a lost of a fellow student friend.
Arkansas Driver education and training is no longer a project to hire out to the local driving school. Parents need to get involved and stay involved for at least two or three years. Placing driving restrictions and hours on when a new driver is allowed to drive and with whom. This, in essence, is Arkansas Graduated Driver Licensing.
