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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Students must be 15 1/2
to get learner’s permitQuestion: I just want to know if you have to be 15 to get a driver's permit or 15 and 6 months to get the permit. I've been told 15 1/2, but some say only 15, so I'm confused.
Answer: In January 2001 the state law was amended, adding six months to the ages at which a person could obtain a learner's permit and a driver's license.
You now have to be 15 1/2 years old to get a learner's permit and 16 to get a driver's license.
Additionally, those under 18 are required to take driver's education before signing up for a road test to obtain a license.
There apparently also is some confusion as to what the driver's education requirement is. Not only is there a mandatory requirement that those under 18 be instructed by people certified by the state Department of Transportation, there also is a requirement to rack up 50 hours of practice driving.
A teenager under 18 who wants to get a license needs to get two things: a driver education student completion certificate showing completion of a 30-hour classroom course; and a behind-the-wheel student completion certificate for completion of a six-hour behind-the-wheel training course with a Transportation Department-certified instructor, OR for completion of a department-certified simulator course with two hours of behind-the-wheel training with a certified instructor.
On top of that, the student is required to have at least 40 hours of daytime and 10 hours of nighttime driving with a parent or licensed driver over the age of 18.
Practice driving can be done essentially any time during the driver's education process (as long as the teen has a learner's permit), such as during classroom instruction; or before, during or after behind-the-wheel training with a certified instructor.
The best time may be when the student is actually driving with the instructor, the idea being that they can practice what they have learned.
Parents or legal guardians must fill out an "affidavit form," swearing that "based on (their) personal or otherwise reasonably obtained knowledge," the minor student has completed the required 50 hours of practice driving.
That form has to be notarized, said transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa, then given to the certified driving instructor. Only after completing the driving course and putting in the practice times will the behind-the-wheel certificate be issued, he said.
This is all based on honesty, since no one other than the parent or guardian is required to actually verify the practice times, Ishikawa acknowledged.
Students can get more information from their high schools. Most public high schools offer driver's education courses for only $10 -- for 30 hours of classroom and six hours of driving instruction -- on a first-come, first-served basis.
These classes fill up fast, so many teens end up taking private instruction.
The state has set maximum fees that private instructors can charge, although most are said to charge less. The maximum fee for a 30-hour classroom course is $250; a simulator course, $250; behind-the-wheel instruction, $50 an hour.
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