Connecticut Graduated Driver Licensing

Operating a motor vehicle is a complicated task requiring skill, ability and a degree of tolerance for our fellow driver. While our skills and tolerance may increase with ‘time on the road’, our abilities may be reduced by trauma, disease or illness. A driver licensing system which is based on the assumption that we do not change physically is not consistent with common sense, nor does it reflect reality. The change may have been so subtle that the driver did not even notice it, or it may have been the result of an accident with very clear consequences.

The Department of Motor Vehicles, with the help of our Medical Advisory Board (a group of medical doctors who volunteer their time), has developed a Graduated Drivers License program. This licensing program is for the person whose abilities, for whatever reason, have changed since his or her initial licensing. It also allows DMV to issue new licenses under this program to drivers who previously would not have qualified for a license.

The Graduated Drivers License program does not concern itself with the reason for change; instead, it focuses on the professional medical advice given to the driver. If a driver is told by his or her physician to drive only during daylight hours because of a medical condition, the Graduated Drivers License can be fashioned to state just that limitation. The goal of the Graduated Drivers License program is to support self-respect and dignity by ensuring the greatest possible mobility for the driver without jeopardizing safety.

The type of license issued is based on the advice of the driver’s medical professional, who provides the DMV with diagnostic information. DMV personnel review the medical reports and may ask the driver to be evaluated by specially trained DMV staff. The license is then issued to the driver, at no additional charge if the driver has a current license. If a Graduated Drivers License is issued, it becomes the license that the driver carries and uses. It indicates with a code that it is a Graduated Drivers License.

The advantage of the Graduated Drivers License is the assurance that the person is driving in a manner consistent with the best possible medical advice.

The Graduated Drivers License program assists many drivers to retain their driving privileges without hardship, plus maintain their selfrespect, dignity, and mobility.

Types of Graduated Drivers’ Licenses Available: A graduated license may contain one or more limitations noted below. They will be noted on the license document. Operation of a motor vehicle is permitted
only:

During the period of daylight beginning one-half (1/2) hour before sunrise and ending one-half (1/2) hour after sunset; When the person is using corrective lenses, not including telescopic lenses, as prescribed by a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist; On highways that are not limited access highways; In a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission; In a motor vehicle equipped with external mirrors located on both the left and right sides of the vehicle to reflect to the vehicle operator a view of the highway of at least two hundred (200) feet to the rear; In a motor vehicle having special controls or equipment.

What is Connecticut Graduated Driver Licensing?

What is Connecticut GDL? Connecticut 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 Connecticut graduated driver licensing program.

We begin with combining the in-class with the behind-the-wheel training process concurrent with one another. Then we add more hours behind-the-wheel to give the new drivers an opportunity to experience all four seasons and weather conditions under a controlled risk factor. We take away the 6 hour driver training clock and base achievement and graduation on performance, skill and experience.

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 Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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 Connecticut 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 Connecticut curriculum and training videos available. You will need to allow Connecticut 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.

Connecticut 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 Connecticut Graduated Driver Licensing.