Passenger limits and curfew — Colorado Permit Test

For the first six months after a driver under 18 is licensed, they may carry no passengers under 21 unless a parent or another licensed adult driver is in the vehicle.

Friends in the car are the biggest single risk to a new teenage driver. The first six months are when the driver is least able to handle them.

For the first six months after your license is issued, you cannot have any passengers under 21, unless a parent or another licensed adult driver is in the vehicle

After six months a licensed driver under 18 may carry one passenger younger than 21.

The limit loosens as the driver gets more practice. One passenger is a step, not a free pass to fill the car.

After 6 months, you may have one passenger younger than 21

After one year a licensed driver under 18 may carry as many passengers as there are seat belts in the vehicle.

By a year the driver has handled most of what a road throws at them. The seat belt count is the limit because an unbelted passenger is the one who dies.

After 1 year, you may carry as many passengers as there are seat belts in the vehicle

Siblings and passengers with medical emergencies are exceptions to the passenger restrictions on a driver under 18.

A rule that stops a teenager driving their own brother to the doctor helps nobody. The exceptions cover the trips that have to happen.

Siblings and passengers with medical emergencies are exceptions

For the first year as a licensed driver, driving between midnight and 5 a.m. is not allowed unless an instructor, parent or legal guardian is along.

Those hours hold the tired drivers and the drinking drivers, and a new driver is least able to read either. A year of daylight comes first.

For your first year as a licensed driver, driving between midnight and 5 a.m. is not allowed unless you are accompanied by an instructor, parent or legal guardian

Exceptions to the first-year curfew include driving to and from school or work with a signed statement, medical emergencies and emancipated minors.

A curfew that costs someone their night shift would push them into driving without a license instead. The written statement is how the exception is proved.

Exceptions include driving to and from school or work (with a signed statement from school or work), medical emergencies and emancipated minors

Who may ride with a newly licensed 17-year-old in their first six months?

Nobody under 21, unless a licensed adult is along. Friends in the car are the biggest single risk to a new teenage driver. The first six months are when the driver is least able to handle them. Colorado Driver Handbook, p.2: “For the first six months after your license is issued, you cannot have any passengers under 21, unless a parent or another licensed adult driver is in the vehicle”