If you want to drive in the U.S., chances are that you need to apply for a driver’s license. A license allows drivers to drive legally, and proves that they know how to stay safe on the road. Residents in the U.S. can start the process of obtaining a driver’s license when they are fifteen and a half years old.
The first step towards a driver’s license is to test for a permit, which is a document stating that you can start learning how to drive. Once you are fifteen and a half years old, you can take your permit test at a local DMV, or Department of Motor Vehicles building. In order to take the test, you must first complete Driver’s Education, which is a thirty hour course about the basics of road safety. Once you pass the course, you must show verification of your completion at the DMV.
There are many resources available online to help you with Driver’s Education, and the program usually costs around thirty dollars. In addition to verification of your completion of the course, you must also bring verification of your citizenship and residential status. This could be your passport, birth certificate, social security card, or official water and electricity bills. After taking a picture, paying a small fee, and passing a vision test, you are ready to start the permit test!
The permit test consists of forty-six questions about traffic signs and laws. You must correctly answer thirty-eight of the forty-six questions to pass. If you don’t pass on the first try, you have two more chances to retest, but you must wait seven days in between tests. Otherwise, you will have to reapply for a permit. If you are over eighteen years old, you don’t have to pass a permit test at all, and you can immediately begin practicing for a license.
After receiving your permit, you can begin taking behind-the-wheel lessons to learn how to drive. You need to complete a professional driving course with at least six hours of training. Afterwards, you need to drive for fifty hours with parental supervision, and ten of these hours must be at nightime, which is after sunset.
Once you schedule a driving test with a DMV and pass, you are rewarded with a license. Congratulations! You can finally start driving on your own. However, there are still some regulations or limitations. For the first six months, unless an adult over twenty-five years is also present, you can’t drive any passengers under twenty years old, and you can’t drive between the hours of 11pm-5pm. While the process of obtaining a license is very long, it is necessary to ensure that all drivers are safe and responsible. It is also very rewarding, because you will have the freedom to drive anywhere you want!
Discussion Questions:
Do you want to drive? Why or why not?
What do you usually do during long car rides?
What does being a safe driver mean?
Vocabulary:
Apply: make a formal application or request
Obtaining: the process of receiving something
Document: an official paper
Verification: proof of validity or truth
Resources: helpful tools
Citizenship: the state of being a citizen of a country
Status: the current state or condition of something
Reapply: to apply again
Professional: official
Supervision: the state of watching or facilitating
Regulations: rules
Passengers: people in the vehicle that aren’t driving
Responsible: accountable
