Maryland teen driving laws: permits, curfew, and passenger rules

Fifteen and nine months, plus a signature that is not yours

The MVA's learner's-permit page sets the floor at fifteen years and nine months, and calls the permit the first step in Maryland's Rookie Driver program — you must have a valid one before you start behind-the-wheel driver education or drive on Maryland roads at all. Anyone under 18 needs a parent or legal guardian to co-sign, and under 16 there is a school form on top of everything else: Form DL-300, Verification of Identity and/or School Attendance, completed by your school or county home school coordinator and handed over in a sealed unopened envelope from the school, or Form DL-300A, the version a parent or guardian co-signs.

Section 2.E of the manual widens the question of who may sign. A minor's parent or legal guardian is the default, and you prove the relationship with an original or certified birth certificate carrying the parent's name, or with court documents showing legal guardianship. If you are married and your spouse is 18 or older, they can co-sign, with proof of the marriage. If you have no parent, legal guardian or spouse available, the manual allows a responsible adult — an adult employer is its own example — with supporting proof such as your parents' death certificates or proof of emancipation, meaning a court has decided you are no longer under your parents' control. The MVA's learner's-permit page adds a path the manual does not cover: for a minor in the custody or guardianship of the Department of Social Services, the director or their designee brings their own state ID card and an original court document, with seal, showing that custody or guardianship.

Nine months on the permit, not three

Age and a diploma are what move the holding period. Under 18, the manual requires the permit to be held at least nine months without a violation before you are eligible for a provisional license. At 18 with a high school diploma or GED, or at 19 through 24, that drops to three months without a violation — which is why a seventeen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old graduate can start on the same day and finish six months apart. The MVA's provisional-license page states the same tiers as requirements: hold a learner's permit for at least nine months at 16 to 18 without a high school diploma or equivalent, and at least three months at 18 with one.

One ticket rewrites the schedule. The manual's violations rule applies at any age: a conviction for a moving violation, or a probation before judgment for one, means holding the permit at least nine months following the most recent date you were convicted or granted that PBJ, and the same nine months applies if you have been suspended for any reason. The MVA's learner's-permit page puts it plainly for the family reading it — if you are convicted of or granted PBJ for a moving violation, you may need to wait longer to apply for your provisional license. Serving the nine months is not a substitute for anything else; the manual is explicit that the rest of the graduated-licensing requirements still have to be met before you are eligible to take a skills driving test.

Sixty hours logged, ten of them inside Maryland's night window

The manual asks applicants younger than 25 for at least 60 hours of practice driving with a supervising driver, and requires at least 10 of those hours to occur during the period beginning 30 minutes before sunset and ending 30 minutes after sunrise. That is a moving target rather than a clock time, so a December evening and a June evening are not the same night for logging purposes — plan the winter months accordingly. The hours go in the Practice and Skills Log, which the manual says is available on the MVA website, and the learner's-permit page assigns the tracking to the supervising driver, noting that you will need the record to get your provisional license.

Whoever rides with you has to qualify. Section 10.B of the manual sets three conditions on a supervising driver: at least 21 years old, currently licensed for at least three years in Maryland or another state to drive the same class of vehicle you are driving, and seated beside you unless the vehicle is a motorcycle. It does not have to be a parent. The learner's-permit page adds the seating rule that matters most to families with younger siblings: the supervising driver sits in the front passenger seat, and no other front-seat passengers are allowed. That page also bans cell phone use outright while you are driving on a permit — Bluetooth and hands-free included — with a 911 emergency call as the only exception, and warns that violations may result in a suspension of your driving privilege.

The 30-and-6 course, and whose paperwork it is

The MVA's driver's-education page requires an MVA-approved course of at least 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction, and says the driving school submits verification of completion electronically. The provisional-license page repeats the same 30 and six under every age tier it lists. What you carry to the appointment is the paper the school gives you: the completed skills practice log and the completed certification page, together with your unexpired Maryland learner's instructional permit.

A family that moved mid-course should check the list before paying for anything twice. The MVA accepts driver's-education certification from Colorado, Delaware — approved schools only, named individually on the page — North Carolina and Virginia, and publishes Maine, Pennsylvania and West Virginia as states it has reviewed and does not currently accept. If your state appears on neither list, the page tells you to email your out-of-state completion documentation to the MVA's Driver's Education team, which will review it and contact you within two business days; an approval comes as a letter you bring to the appointment.

The handoff: a family car gets graded before the teenager does

The provisional license is the second step of Rookie Driver, and the MVA describes what changes plainly: with it you can drive without a supervising driver, which the page frames as your chance to build real-world driving experience — while still following important restrictions. The gate in between is a single appointment. To apply for the provisional license you must successfully pass the behind-the-wheel driving test, and Section 1.C of the manual describes that test as driving on public roads plus a special course at the testing location.

The household supplies the vehicle, and the manual grades it first: current license plates and registration, proof that it is insured, safe to drive, a windshield with no cracks or anything else that could affect the driver's view, and at least a half tank of gas. A parent lending the car is on the hook for all five. The supervising driver has to come along to the test site but stays out of the exam — only the applicant and the examiner may be in the vehicle during the test, plus an MVA-approved interpreter if one is needed. And whoever drives home afterward is now driving under the restrictions in the sections below, unsupervised, from that day forward.

The first 151 days: who is allowed in the car

Section 9.A of the manual sets the passenger restriction for provisional drivers under 18: for the first 151 days you may not drive unsupervised with passengers under the age of 18 unless they are immediate family members. You may carry an unrelated passenger under 18 if a qualified supervising driver is in the car with you. The manual defines immediate family explicitly, and the list is broader than the phrase suggests — your spouse, daughter, son, stepdaughter, stepson, sister, brother, stepsister, stepbrother, or any relative who lives at your address. The MVA's provisional-license page states the same restriction and warns what breaking it costs: a one-year suspension.

Midnight to 5 a.m., and the errands that are exceptions

The nighttime restriction is written as a narrow permission rather than a broad ban. Under Section 9.A, a provisional license holder may drive unsupervised between 12:00 midnight and 5:00 a.m. only when driving to, from or during a job; to or from an organized volunteer program; to or from an official school activity; or to or from an athletic event or a related training session you are participating in. The MVA's provisional-license page lists the same purposes and adds the supervised alternative in the same breath: you may also drive in those hours if a licensed, experienced driver — at least 21 years old with three years of driving — is with you. Breaking the nighttime rule carries a one-year suspension, the same as the passenger rule.

The phone stays off, and so does the drinking

Section 9.A of the manual heads its restriction list "The following driving restrictions apply to graduated license holders under 18 years old" — so read what follows inside that scope. Within it, the wireless-device rule names both stages at once: with a provisional license or a learner's permit you may not use any wireless communication device while driving, hands-free phones included, and the only exception is a 911 emergency call. The permit half of that ban does not depend on the age scoping, because the MVA's learner's-permit page states it separately for anyone driving on a permit. The MVA's provisional-license page prices a violation at a 90-day suspension. Seat belts sit in the same §9.A list — with a provisional license you must always use one, and all passengers must use safety belts or child safety seats.

On alcohol the two surfaces stack. The provisional-license page bars a driver under 18 from driving with any measurable alcohol in their system, keeps that rule for provisional holders under 21, and puts drivers 21 and over under Maryland's ordinary impaired-driving laws. It also sets the penalty ladder: after a first alcohol-restriction violation you must use an ignition interlock device or have your license suspended for six months, and a second violation means revocation. The manual states the underlying law in one line — if you are not yet 21 it is against the law for you to drink any alcohol — and warns that being stopped after drinking means your license will be suspended or revoked, on top of a possible charge for violating the alcohol restriction on the license itself.

Two penalty ladders, and the age that decides which one you climb

Convictions and probations before judgment count the same on this ladder, and the manual runs it four rungs for a provisional driver under 18. A first offense requires completing a driver improvement program. A second brings a 30-day suspension followed by a 90-day restriction limiting driving to employment and educational purposes only. A third brings a 180-day suspension, attendance at a driver improvement program for young drivers, and an employment-and-education-only restriction for 180 days. A fourth or more results in revocation, and the manual says you must pass all licensing tests to get your license back. For a provisional driver 18 or older the ladder is shorter: a driver improvement program first, a 30-day suspension second, and up to a 180-day suspension or revocation on a third or more.

Two more counters run alongside it, both on the MVA's provisional-license page. Points are the first: the first time you accumulate five or more points in a twelve-month period, the provisional license is suspended for six months, and every subsequent time you reach that threshold the suspension is twelve months. High-risk driving is the second, and the page defines it as speeding, racing, reckless, aggressive or negligent driving — a conviction while holding a provisional license means a six-month suspension for a first offense and one year for subsequent ones. The manual adds the consequence that outlasts all of them: after each conviction or probation before judgment for a moving violation, you begin a new eighteen-month conviction-free period before you can get your license back.

The signature that can be taken back

Three MVA pages — learner's permit, provisional license and full license — carry the same two sentences, which is a fair sign of how much weight the MVA puts on them: drivers under 18 need permission from a parent, guardian or co-signer to have a provisional driver's license, and parents and guardians may withdraw their consent for driving at any time. All three also state the notification rule: if a new driver under 18 is cited for a moving violation, the MVA will notify the adult who co-signed the application. That is automatic, and it does not wait for a conviction — the trigger the pages name is the citation.

Section 2.F of the manual explains what withdrawing consent looks like in practice. The co-signer cancels a minor's license by submitting a written request to the MVA's Administrative Adjudication Division, and the license then remains canceled until the minor reaches the age of 18 — unless a co-signer signs a new application, and that person must meet the same qualifications the original signer did. It is a real lever with a real duration, not a warning letter.

Eighteen months clean, and a card that arrives on its own

The MVA's full-license page lists four conditions: be at least 18 years old, have held the provisional license for at least 18 months, have no convictions during those 18 months, and — if you are under 21 — have no alcohol-related offenses on your driving record. Meet them and there is nothing to file. The MVA converts the provisional license to a full driver's license automatically, mails you an attachment card showing the new status, and asks you to carry that card with the provisional license until the provisional one expires; the next renewal issues an ordinary full license. The mailing can be followed with the MVA's order-status tool.

The eighteen months are a clock that can be reset, and the provisional-license page says exactly when: if you are convicted of a traffic offense or receive a probation before judgment, the eighteen-month period starts over, running from the date you were convicted or given the PBJ, or from the date your license was restored after a suspension or revocation. A ticket at month sixteen therefore costs more than a fine — it costs the sixteen months already served.

Maryland licensing — frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Maryland MVA — Learner's Permit: minimum age, co-signers, school forms and permit rules
• Maryland MVA — Provisional License: requirements by age, restrictions and penalties
• Maryland MVA — Full License: the 18-month clean record and the automatic conversion
• Maryland MVA — Driver's Education: 30 classroom hours, six behind the wheel, and out-of-state credit
• Maryland Driver's Manual (DL-002), October 2025 Edition — co-signers, supervising drivers and Section 9 restrictions

Checked against official state sources on August 20, 2026.