Idaho’s Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) Program

PURPOSE
This fact sheet provides information on Idaho’s Graduated Driver’s License program, which became effective on January 1, 2001. Graduated driver licensing is designed to ease beginning drivers into the traffic environment under controlled conditions to help reduce the number of teen driver traffic convictions and collisions.

CONDITIONS
All applicants for an Idaho driver’s license who are under the age of 17 must:

1. Pass an approved driver education class consisting of:

• Thirty (30) hours of classroom instruction,
• Six (6) hours behind-the-wheel instruction, and
• Six (6) hours in-car observation,

The minimum training period for students attending driver education classes through a public school is 42 days (30-day minimum when school is not in session). Students taking driver education classes from a commercial school are not restricted to a minimum training period.

Students must be at least 14 and one-half years of age and are only allowed to drive with an instructor during the class. The instructor retains the student’s Driver Training Permit, and will give it to the applicant or parent/legal guardian after the course has been passed. The Driver Training Permit then becomes the Supervised Instruction Permit (SIP).

2. Complete a supervised driving period, which must include:

• No less than four months of supervised driving (after June 30, 2007, the supervised driving period increases to six [6] months).
• Fifty (50) hours of supervised driving (ten of the 50 hours must be at night).

New Idaho residents who have a driver’s license from another state but are under 17 years of age are not required to undergo a supervised driving period if they provide acceptable proof of having passed a driver education course that is equivalent to Idaho’s driver education program. If the out-of-state course is deemed not acceptable, the applicant will be required to pass Idaho’s approved driver’s training course before testing for and receiving an Idaho driver’s license.

3. Pass the written knowledge and road skills tests.

• Applicants must be at least 15 years of age to receive an Idaho driver’s license.
• Applicants must schedule an appointment with a skills tester. A current skills tester list is available at all county driver’s license offices or on the Internet at itd.idaho.gov/dmv. A skills tester will need to view each applicant’s original signed SIP.
• Applicants who fail a test must wait for at least three days before retaking a test (the test fees must be re-paid).

Before a skills test can be taken and/or a license issued to the applicant, a parent or legal guardian must sign and date a statement on the SIP:

• Certifying that 50 hours of driving were completed (10 of which were at night)
• Granting permission to issue the license.

This prevents teens from receiving a license before they are eligible and/or without their parents’ knowledge and consent. The driver’s license will expire five days after the licensee’s 18th birthday.

Drivers under age 16 are restricted to driving only during daylight hours unless accompanied by a licensed driver who is at least 21 years of age and sitting beside the driver. No other passengers are allowed in the front seat.

After June 30, 2007, licensees under the age of 17 are required—during the first six (6) months from the date the license was issued—to limit the number of passengers in the vehicle who are under the age of 17 to not more than one passenger, unless the passengers are related to the driver by blood, adoption, or marriage.

OBTAINING A PERMIT
Applicants can purchase a Driver’s Training/Supervised Instruction Permit at a local county driver’s license office. The permit should be purchased only after confirming the applicant’s enrollment in a driver’s training class. The fees are non-refundable. Permits expire after one year.

Applicants for a Driver’s Training/Supervised Instruction Permit must pass the required vision test and provide the following:

• Social Security Number
• Certified Original Birth Certificate (available from the Bureau of Vital Statistics)
• Verification of school enrollment
• Acceptable photo identification
• A liability signer (see Chapter One of the Idaho Driver’s Manual or the DMV website)

REQUIREMENTS
The Driver’s Training/Supervised Instruction Permit (SIP) must be signed by the driver training instructor, a parent or legal guardian, and the applicant. During the required supervised driving period:

• The supervising driver must be at least 21 years of age and possess a valid driver’s license.
• The supervising driver must sit in the seat beside the permit holder.
• No other passengers are allowed in the front seat.
• The SIP must be in the permit holder’s possession while driving.
• All occupants must wear seat belts or child safety restraints.
• The permit holder must observe all laws regarding the use of alcohol and other intoxicating substances.

UNDER AGE 17
Permit holders may continue to drive on an unexpired SIP past the minimum supervised period (they remain subject to the restrictions listed on the SIP).

NOTE: If a SIP is lost, mutilated, or destroyed, a new SIP must be purchased and re-signed by a parent or legal guardian and the applicant. SIPs may not be photocopied, cut apart, or laminated.

AT AGE 17
Permit holders must apply for a Driver’s License or Instruction Permit. Drivers over the age of 17 who continue to operate on the SIP are improperly licensed and can be cited.

CANCELLATIONS
Any violation of the SIP requirements during the supervised instruction period will result in cancellation of the permit and requires the permit holder to reapply for a new permit. Upon reapplication, permit holders must start and complete a new four-month supervised instruction period (after June 30, 2007, the supervised instruction period is six (6) months). No reinstatement fee for the cancellation is required prior to reapplication. Supervised Instruction Permits can be canceled for:

• Conviction of an intoxicating substance violation or any traffic violation (speeding, running a red light or stop sign, etc).
• Violation of the permit’s restrictions (driver and passengers not wearing seat belts, failing to carry the permit while driving, not having a valid licensed adult in the seat beside the permit holder, etc.). The driver will also receive a mandatory driving privilege suspension.
• Any suspension ordered by the court or the Idaho Transportation Department, such as non-payment of a traffic citation, failure to attend school, etc.

CONVICTION WHILE UNDER AGE 17
The consequences for traffic or intoxicating substance convictions vary depending on the number of convictions.

• First conviction: Written warning that driving privileges will be suspended for any additional conviction.
• Second conviction: Minimum 30-day driving privilege suspension.
• Third or subsequent conviction: Minimum 60-day driving privilege suspension.

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