Beginning July 1, 2009, Indiana implemented new Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) requirements for probationary drivers under the age of 18. Since young drivers are at greater risk for becoming involved in traffic crashes that result in severe injury and death, specific restrictions have been put into place to help teens safely travel Indiana’s roadways.
If you are 16 or 17 years old when you get your driver's license, your license is considered probationary until you turn 18 years old. You may amend your license after you turn 18 years old to remove the probationary driver designation from your license. However, once a driver turns 18 years old, the probationary driver restrictions will no longer apply to even if the designation is still indicated on the license.
Recent changes to state law affect probationary drivers who get an Indiana driver’s license on or after July 1, 2009. Drivers who get an Indiana driver’s license on or before June 30, 2009, are not affected by the following changes in state law.
No matter what type of license you have, every passenger in the vehicle that you are driving must wear a seat belt - even if that vehicle is a truck or SUV.
What is Indiana GDL? Indiana 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 Indiana 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 Indiana 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 Indiana 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 Indiana 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 Indiana 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 Indiana curriculum and training videos available. You will need to allow Indiana 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.
Indiana 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 Indiana Graduated Driver Licensing.
