Minor drivers — Colorado Permit Test

Colorado law requires a minor to hold an instruction permit for 12 months before applying for a driver license.

A year covers every season, so a new driver meets snow, glare and dark before driving alone. Practice packed into a month misses all of it.

Colorado law requires minors to have an instruction permit for 12 months before applying for a driver license and to submit a completed and signed driving log showing 50 hours of driving experience (10 of which must have been at night).

A minor applying for a driver license must submit a completed and signed driving log showing 50 hours of driving experience.

Hours behind the wheel are what turn rules into habits. The log is written down because nobody remembers honestly how much they actually drove.

Colorado law requires minors to have an instruction permit for 12 months before applying for a driver license and to submit a completed and signed driving log showing 50 hours of driving experience (10 of which must have been at night).

Of the 50 logged hours of driving experience, 10 must have been at night.

Night driving is a different skill: less distance to look, harder to judge speed, and headlights in your eyes. It has to be practiced separately.

experience (10 of which must have been at night)

An applicant younger than 16 and 6 months must also complete 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training with an approved driver education instructor.

The youngest applicants have had the least time to practice, so the state buys them some hours with someone trained to spot the habits forming.

If younger than 16 and 6 months, you must also complete 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training with an approved driver education instructor

Where no approved driving school offering at least 20 hours of training a week sits within 30 miles of your home, 12 additional hours of driving with your parent, guardian or alternate permit supervisor may be substituted.

A rule that cannot be met is a rule that keeps rural teenagers off the road for good. The substitute costs more hours instead of a longer drive.

12 additional hours of driving with your parent/guardian/ alternate permit supervisor may be substituted for the 6 hours of behind the wheel training with a driver education instructor.

An applicant living more than 30 miles from the nearest commercial driving school must bring a printed map of the route from home to the school.

The exemption turns on a distance, and the office has no way to measure it from the counter. The map is how you show the trip is as long as you say.

If you live more than 30 miles from the nearest commercial driving school you must bring a printed map of the route from your home to the driving school when you go to the driver license office.

An applicant under 18 must submit an Affidavit of Liability signed and verified by a parent, stepparent, grandparent with power of attorney, legal guardian, spouse older than 18, or another responsible adult.

Someone has to answer for a driver too young to answer for themselves. The affidavit is the adult saying out loud that it will be them.

If you are under 18, your application must be accompanied by an Affidavit of Liability (DR2460) signed and verified by your parent, stepparent, grandparent with power of attorney, legal guardian, spouse older than 18, or any other responsible adult willing to accept legal liability.

The Affidavit of Liability must be signed in front of a driver license office employee or a notary public.

A signature that nobody watched is a signature anyone could have written. Signing in front of a witness is what makes it hold.

The affidavit must be signed in front of the driver license office employee or a notary public

If the person who signed the Affidavit of Liability withdraws their signature, the minor permit or license is canceled.

The adult accepted the risk, and they are allowed to stop. The permit rests on that acceptance, so it goes when the acceptance does.

If the signer decides to no longer accept responsibility for your driving, that person may withdraw their signature and your permit/license will be canceled

How long must a minor hold an instruction permit before applying for a license?

12 months. A year covers every season, so a new driver meets snow, glare and dark before driving alone. Practice packed into a month misses all of it. Colorado Driver Handbook, p.2: “Colorado law requires minors to have an instruction permit for 12 months before applying for a driver license and to submit a completed and signed driving log showing 50 hours of driving experience (10 of which must have been at night).”