Traffic Safety Laws
Graduated Licensing
Traffic crashes are responsible for 40% of all teen fatalities. Graduated licensing is a system designed to implement full licensure in stages under controlled conditions, offering beginning drivers the opportunity to become more experienced under lower risk conditions.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, in an optimal system, the minimum age for a learner's permit is 16; the learner stage lasts at least 6 months, during which parents must certify at least 30-50 hours of supervised driving; and the intermediate stage lasts until at least age 18 and includes both a night driving restriction starting at 9 or 10 p.m. and a strict teenage passenger restriction allowing no teenage passengers, or no more than one teenage passenger.
How does Virginia size up?
- Learner’s Permit minimum age: 15 years, 6 months
- Duration of Learners Permit: 9 months
- Supervised Driving: 40 hours, at least 10 must be nighttime
- Intermediate Stage starts at 16 years and 3 months
- Nighttime Driving Restriction: Midnight til 4:00 am
- Teenage Passenger Restriction: first 12 months, no more than 1 passenger younger than 18; until 18, no more than 3 passengers younger than 18 (except family)
Click here to see what other states do.
