Limited provisional license — North Carolina Permit Test

A Level Two Limited Provisional License is for drivers who are at least 16 but under 18.

Sixteen is the first age North Carolina lets a teenager drive alone, and even then with limits until 18.

Drivers must be at least 16 years old, but less than 18.

A Level Two driver may drive unsupervised from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m., and at any time when driving directly to or from work or a volunteer fire, rescue or EMS service they belong to.

The limit keeps a new solo driver off the late-night roads. Work and emergency service are the trips the law lets through.

You may drive without supervision from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. and at any time when driving directly to or from work or any volunteer fire, rescue or emergency medical service, if you are a member.

A Level Two license must be held for at least six months before applying for a Full Provisional License.

Driving alone in daylight is the test of Level Two. Six months of it is what earns the night and the passengers.

You must hold this license at least six months prior to applying for a Full Provisional License.

When a Level Two driver drives unsupervised, only one passenger under 21 who is not a member of the driver’s household may be in the vehicle.

A car full of friends is the most common setting for a teenage crash. One is the number the law allows.

When driving unsupervised, there may be one passenger that is under 21 that is not a member of the same household as the driver.

A second passenger under 21 from outside the household may ride with a Level Two driver only if that passenger is a student being driven directly to or from school.

Carpooling to school is the one case the law makes room for. Any other second passenger has to wait for Level Three.

One other passenger under 21 years of age, who is not a member of the license holder’s household, may be in the vehicle when that passenger is a student, and they are being driven directly to or from school.

There is no under-21 passenger limit for a Level Two driver when all passengers are members of the driver’s household, but under-21 household members may not ride when an under-21 non-household passenger is in the vehicle.

Brothers and sisters are not the distraction the rule is aimed at. Mixing them with a friend is, so the two groups do not ride together.

Additionally, when driving unsupervised, “under 21” household members may not be in the vehicle when “under 21” non-household members are in the vehicle.

When a supervising driver rides with a Level Two driver, the supervising driver must be seated beside the driver.

A supervisor in the back seat can see nothing the driver sees. Beside the driver is the only place they can help.

Supervising driver must be seated beside the driver.

How old must a driver be to hold a Level Two Limited Provisional License?

At least 16 but under 18. Sixteen is the first age North Carolina lets a teenager drive alone, and even then with limits until 18. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.13: “Drivers must be at least 16 years old, but less than 18.”