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

Two ages, and what each one buys

The Teen Driver Guide reduces the whole path to three sentences. You can start the process at 15 and 6 months old by applying for a Graduated Instruction Permit, the Class G permit. After 6 months you can apply for the Graduated License, the Class G license, and drive without an adult, with restrictions. After you turn 18, you can get your regular license. The manual defines that middle credential precisely: a graduated driver license is issued to an applicant who is at least 16 but less than 18 years of age, and is valid to operate any vehicle that does not require a motorcycle or commercial license.

The six months is not counted from the day the teenager passes anything. The Teen Driver Guide flags it in capitals: the 6 month period starts after the instruction permit has been issued in an office. Passing the written test at the kitchen table starts nothing. The permit itself is valid for 12 months, and the manual adds the condition that closes the loop — the permit must be valid at the time of application. The Teen Driver Guide also prints an alternative the statute does not: you must hold the permit for 6 months or until you turn 18 before being eligible to obtain your driver license, and its upgrade checklist repeats it — hold the Graduated Instruction Permit for six months or until your 18th birthday. Six months of waiting inside a twelve-month document leaves a window, and a teenager who lets the permit lapse falls out of it.

Who may sign, and what signing makes them liable for

The manual's sentence on this is one of the shortest and heaviest in the book: if you are under 18, your application for an instruction permit or driver license must be signed by at least one adult, and the adult will be responsible for any negligence or willful misconduct when you are driving. That is the trade the signature makes, and it is worth reading before anyone picks up a pen.

Who that adult may be is a closed list, and the manual and the MVD's teen page word it slightly differently. The manual asks for one natural or adoptive parent if married to the other; both natural or adoptive parents if unmarried but sharing joint custody; one natural or adoptive parent with sole custody; a legal guardian, with proof required; a foster parent living with the minor, also with proof; or an employer of the minor, in which case the parents' death certificates must be shown. The teen page runs the same ladder but writes the first three limbs as natural parents and reserves the guardian, foster-parent and employer options for the case where neither parent has custody. Both agree on the formality: the signatures must be witnessed by an MVD agent or by a notary public, and signatures obtained for an instruction permit will be required again for a driver license. Nobody signs once.

The signature can also be taken back. The manual states that the person who signed the application for the minor, as well as the person with responsibility for the minor, may cancel the minor's license, by submitting a Driver License/ID Cancellation Request available online or at any driver license office, or by sending a notarized letter authorizing the cancellation to the Motor Vehicle Division at P.O. Box 2100, Mail Drop 533M, Phoenix, AZ 85001. The request has to identify the license number, the full name and the date of birth of the person whose license is to be canceled. This is a real administrative lever, not a figure of speech.

Three routes to the Class G license, and only one skips the road test

A.R.S. 28-3174(A) sets the frame: a person under eighteen may apply for a Class G license if the person is at least sixteen; has a valid instruction permit and has held it for at least six months, except that this requirement does not apply to a person who has a currently valid driver license issued by another jurisdiction; and satisfies any one of three alternatives. The MVD's Teen Driver Guide presents those alternatives as Options 1, 2 and 3, and the difference between them is measured in logged hours and in whether a road test happens at all.

Option 1 is the plain one: at least 30 hours of supervised driving practice, including at least 10 hours at night, and then the road test. Option 2 cuts the log to at least 20 hours including at least 6 at night, but only for an applicant who completed a driver education program offered by a traffic survival school or a certified defensive driving school approved by the Arizona Supreme Court — and the road test still follows. The statute writes that second route as two things that must both apply, and more precisely than the web page: the program must come from a defensive driving school certified under section 28-3395 and approved by the supreme court, or from a traffic survival school, and a custodial parent or guardian must certify the twenty hours, six of them at night, in writing.

Option 3 is the one families ask about. Complete a high school or privately operated driver education program and provide proof of completion within twelve months of issuance, and the road test is waived. The statute's version names an approver: the program must be approved by the Arizona Department of Transportation, and if a public high school offers it, approved by ADOT in consultation with the Department of Education. The twelve-month deadline sits on the MVD's page, attached to proof of completion — a paperwork clock, and missing it is not the same as never taking the class.

The manual compresses all three into a single sentence and, in doing so, phrases the middle route as twenty hours with at least six at night if the minor completed a Traffic Survival School or Defensive Driving course — shorter than the statute's wording, and without its certification and approval conditions. Where the two differ, plan against the statute.

What the parent is actually attesting to

In two of the three routes the hours are not verified by a school, an app or a state inspector. A.R.S. 28-3174 puts the duty on a named person: a custodial parent or guardian of the applicant certifies in writing to the department that the practice was completed. The log is therefore only as good as the adult who signs it — and that adult is the same one already carrying the liability from the application.

While the permit is in force there is exactly one supervision rule, and the MVD states it without qualifiers: you must have a licensed driver 21 years or older in the seat beside you. The manual is a shade more specific about which license that adult needs — a Class A, B, C or D licensed driver at least 21 years of age, occupying the seat beside you. There is no permit curfew and no permit passenger cap in either source; the restrictions that do exist arrive later, with the license.

The first six months on a Class G license: three separate rules

Subsection D is the curfew. For the first six months a Class G licensee holds the license, the licensee shall not drive on a public highway from 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. unless either the licensee is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who has a Class A, B, C or D license and who occupies a seat beside the licensee, or the licensee is driving directly to or from a sanctioned school sponsored activity, the licensee's place of employment, a sanctioned religious activity or a family emergency. Four destinations, one adult, and the word "directly" doing real work in the middle of it.

Subsection E is the passenger rule, and it is not limited to the small hours. For the first six months the licensee shall not drive on a public highway at any time with more than one passenger under the age of eighteen — with two carve-outs. The restriction does not prohibit driving with under-eighteen passengers if those passengers are the licensee's siblings, and it does not apply at all if the licensee is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian holding a Class A, B, C or D license who occupies a seat beside them. Siblings are exempt; friends are counted.

Subsection F is the phone, and its exceptions are narrower than people assume. For the first six months the licensee may not drive while using a wireless communication device for any reason except during an emergency in which stopping the vehicle is impossible or will create an additional emergency or safety hazard, or when using an audible turn-by-turn navigation system — and that second exception only holds if both of two things are true: the destination is not manually entered into the device while driving, and the licensee does not manually adjust the device while driving. The MVD's teen page reaches the same place in one line, ending on the part families forget: programming while driving is prohibited.

Secondary enforcement, and the letters that get a citation dismissed

One subsection changes how the other three are policed. A.R.S. 28-3174(G) says a peace officer shall not stop or cite a driver for a violation of subsection D, E or F unless the officer has reasonable cause to believe there is another alleged violation of a motor vehicle law of this state. The curfew, the passenger cap and the phone rule are enforced on top of something else — not as a reason to pull a car over on their own.

The statute then builds an exit that most families never hear about. A curfew citation shall be dismissed if the licensee produces one of four written, notarized letters to the appropriate court officer on time and in the manner the court specifies — the four are set out in this article's questions below. A passenger-rule citation has its own version: it shall be dismissed if a written, notarized letter from the parent or legal guardian states that the passengers in the vehicle at the time were the licensee's siblings. Both routes require notarization, and both run against the date and time printed on the citation.

What breaking those three rules costs

The ladder in A.R.S. 28-3174(H) climbs in three steps, and the money is the smaller half of it. A first violation carries a maximum civil penalty of $75 and a thirty-day extension of the restriction — beginning, if the restriction is already complete, when the department receives the report of the finding of responsibility. A second violation carries a maximum of $100 and a sixty-day extension on the same terms, and if the teenager is already serving an extension from the first, the extensions run consecutively. A third or subsequent violation carries a maximum of $100 and a thirty-day suspension of the driving privilege, which likewise runs consecutively with any suspension resulting from a moving civil traffic violation or a moving criminal traffic offense under section 28-3321. The MVD's teen page prints the same three tiers in shorter form; verify the amounts there before quoting them.

Ordinary traffic tickets under 18: two ladders, counted differently

Separately from the Class G restrictions, Arizona runs a consequence ladder for under-18 drivers convicted of ordinary traffic violations, and the manual and the Drivers FAQ both number it and scope it differently. The manual's ladder is written for drivers who are under age 18, hold a graduated driver license, and are convicted of a traffic violation; the FAQ's is written for moving violations under the age of 18. The manual counts convictions: first conviction of a traffic violation means the driver must attend Traffic Survival School and the violation goes on the driving record; second conviction brings a three-month suspension of the driving privilege; third conviction brings a six-month suspension. The FAQ counts moving violations, and its first rung is the one the manual does not show: first violation, if you attend Defensive Driving School, your record will remain clean. Its second violation is labeled the first conviction and sends the teenager to Traffic Survival School; its third is the second conviction and a three-month suspension; its fourth is the third conviction and a six-month suspension.

The manual also marks where the two systems meet: suspension of the driving privilege results for a third conviction of curfew or passenger violations, and for convictions of other violations including alcohol-related ones. Traffic Survival School itself it describes as a program for drivers with convictions for serious driving violations, an accumulation of points on their record, or who are at risk of losing the driving privilege; the schools are licensed by the Arizona Chapter of the National Safety Council, which qualifies instructors to teach the MVD-approved curriculum.

Moving to Arizona with a permit already in hand

Arizona gives credit for time served elsewhere, and the MVD's teen page works the arithmetic out loud. If you have an out-of-state instruction permit, you get Arizona credit for the months you've held it; its own example is a teenager with a California instruction permit held for three months, who takes the Arizona permit test and then holds the Arizona permit for an additional three months instead of six. The manual states the same principle in one line: Arizona will give applicants credit for the time they have held their instruction permit in another state.

A full license transfers differently. The teen page says an out-of-state driver license may be transferred to an Arizona license of the same class, and that graduated driver license holders will be required to follow the graduated license restrictions for the first six months or until they turn 18. Arriving with a license does not import a clean slate — it imports the same six-month window everyone else serves. What it can retire is the testing and the coursework: A.R.S. 28-3174(A)(2) removes the six-month permit-holding requirement for a person who has a currently valid license issued by another jurisdiction, and the manual says such an applicant may be exempt from the driver education, driving practice and instruction permit requirements.

Two wheels at fifteen and six months

A motorcycle instruction permit opens on the same birthday as the car permit. A.R.S. 28-3156 lets a person at least fifteen years and six months of age apply, and the department may issue the permit once the applicant passes every part of the examination other than the motorcycle skill test. It lasts seven months from issuance, and no more than two Class M permits go to the same person within twenty-four months. The riding restrictions come in four separate limbs on the MVD's motorcycle page: no passengers, no freeway or interstate riding, no riding between sunset and sunrise, and no riding when visibility is less than 500 feet.

For the license itself, a rider under eighteen must have held an Arizona motorcycle instruction permit for at least six months and must either have satisfactorily completed an MVD-approved motorcycle driver education program, or have a parent or guardian certify in writing at least 30 hours of motorcycle riding practice. A.R.S. 28-3174(M) attaches an exception to the permit half — the six-month requirement does not apply to a person who has a currently valid motorcycle driver license or endorsement issued by another jurisdiction — and the motorcycle page says the same thing in its own words: if an out-of-state motorcycle license is before or within a year of expiration, you are exempt from the education and permit requirements. Training can retire the tests altogether: the MVD says completing training at an approved motorcycle school and earning a Motorcycle Safety Foundation card lets you skip the written and road tests.

Turning eighteen: what ends, and what follows you across

The restrictions expire with the birthday, but not everything does. A.R.S. 28-3174(K) says the restrictions imposed by subsections D, E and F do not apply beginning on the licensee's eighteenth birthday — and then adds the sentence that matters to anyone mid-penalty: any penalties or restrictions imposed under subsection H shall be fully satisfied even if the licensee is eighteen years of age or older. An extension earned at seventeen does not evaporate at eighteen.

Upgrading, meanwhile, is a choice rather than a chore — the mechanics are in this article's questions below. What is worth noting here is that the same kind of optional switch comes around again three years later: at 21 you may keep the vertical under-21 card or trade it for a horizontal one, and Arizona does not force either. Nothing about the graduated system requires a teenager to stand in a line on a birthday.

Arizona licensing — frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Arizona MVD — Teen Driver Guide to Class G Permit and License: the three options, the restrictions and the signature rules
• A.R.S. 28-3174 — Class G driver licenses, restrictions, civil penalties and the citation-dismissal letters
• Arizona Driver License Manual and Customer Service Guide (form 99-0117, Revised March 2026)
• A.R.S. 28-3156 — the Class M instruction permit, its seven-month term and the two-permit cap
• Arizona MVD — Permit Test (at Home or in an Office): the permit age floor and when the six-month clock starts
• Arizona MVD — Drivers FAQ: the under-18 violation ladder and Defensive Driving School
• Arizona MVD — Motorcycle License: permit rules for riders under 18 and the MSF card waiver
• Arizona MVD — Fees (Driver License): the replacement-license fee and the permit application fee

Checked against official state sources on August 19, 2026.