You may get your learner's permit when you reach 15 years and 6 months of age. It allows you to operate a motor vehicle when a licensed driver at least 21 year of age is seated beside you. The driver accompanying you may be 18 years of age if he or she is your legal guardian, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, step-brother or step-sister. The driver accompanying you must hold a valid driver's license, be alert and able to assist you and be legally permitted to drive.
When you apply for a learner's permit, you will also complete the application process for your driver's license and pay the fees for both the permit and license. You will be required to pass a vision screening and the two-part knowledge exam.
If you are under age 19, you must provide proof of successful completion of a state-approved driver education program and you must hold a learner's permit at least nine months before you can receive a driver's license. Plus, your parent, guardian or foster parent must certify that you received at least 40 hours of driver practice, ten of which must have been completed after sunset. You will receive a certificate when you complete the driver education program.
If you are between age 16 years, 3 months and age 18, your driver education certificate and a valid learner's permit allow you to drive without a licensed driver beside you provided you have held your learner's permit for nine months and the certificate is signed by a parent or legal guardian. After you have held your permit nine months, turned age 16 and 3 months and completed driver education, you will receive a notice that tells you when to appear in court for a licensing ceremony where you will receive your permanent driver's license.
Curfew Restrictions
Virginia's curfew laws prohibit a driver under age 18 who holds a learner's permit or driver's license from driving midnight to 4 A.M. If you hold a driver's license you may drive during these hours:
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Passenger Restrictions
If you are under age 18, you may carry only one passenger under age 18 during the first year that you hold your driver's license. After you have held your license for one year, you may carry only three passengers under age 18 until you reach age 18. Learner's permit holders may not carry more than one passenger under age 18. Passenger restrictions do not apply to family members.
Violations of either the curfew or passenger restrictions can result in the suspension of your driver's license.
You will receive a notice that tells you when to appear in court for a licensing ceremony where you will receive your permanent driver's license. You must appear before the judge with a parent or legal guardian to receive your license.
If you are 19 years of age and older and you have never held a license issued by any state, U.S. territory or foreign country, you must hold a learner's permit for 30 days or more or show completion of a state-approved driver education program. You may take your driver education certificate to any DMV customer service center and take the road skills test. You may take the road skills test no more than three times in any three-month period.
What is Virginia GDL? Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia curriculum and training videos available. You will need to allow Virginia 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.
Virginia 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 Virginia Graduated Driver Licensing.
