Logo

Getting Your License

Driver education

All applicants applying for their first driver’s license must furnish proof of driver education training as required by law. This driver education course may be taken at a public or private institution.

Minor applicants must complete a 30-hour classroom course and an 8-hour behind-the-wheel course.

Age requirement (R.S. 32:408)

  • Class E – Minimum fifteen (15) years of age for a learner’s permit; must complete all stages of the Graduated Licensing Program.
  • Class D – Minimum seventeen (17) years of age.
  • Class A, B or C – Minimum age eighteen (18) (travel intra-state only, no hauling of hazardous materials); minimum age twenty-one (21) to travel interstate or obtain a hazardous material endorsement.

Graduated Licensing Program

All states in the U.S. now have a version of a Graduated Licensing Program. Statistics indicate this program has served to decrease the number of traffic deaths and injuries among teens. While teen driver crashes and casualties have decreased in the past decade, and in spite of attention to the issue, teens are still considered high risk drivers. Unfortunately, motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death among teens in the United States. Per mile driven, teenage drivers 16-19 are four times more likely to crash than older drivers. These high crash rates for teens, particularly 16-year-olds, are related to driver inexperience and immaturity.

Driving experience must be built up sooner or later regardless of when a person starts to drive. But, initial driving experience can be limited to lower risk situations (e.g., daylight and limiting the number of teen passengers) under Graduated Licensing.

Stage 1: learner’s permit

  • Must be a minimum of 15 years of age.
  • Must successfully complete a driver education course approved by the Department of Public Safety & Corrections, consisting of a minimum of thirty (30) hours of classroom training and eight (8) hours of behind-the-wheel training.
  • Must pass a written and a vision examination.
  • The learner’s permit enables the minor to drive when accompanied by a licensed parent, guardian or a licensed adult at least age twenty-one (21) or a licensed sibling at least age eighteen (18).
  • Must have a minimum of fifty (50) hours of behind-the-wheel driving experience with a licensed parent, guardian or adult at least twenty-one (21) years of age. At least fifteen (15) of the hours must be night time driving.

Stage 2: intermediate license

  • Must have completed STAGE 1 (Learner’s Permit).
  • Must be a minimum of sixteen (16) years of age and have held the learner’s permit for at least 180 days.
  • Must pass the road skills test with at least 80% accuracy.
  • Intermediate Licensee is prohibited from driving between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., unless accompanied by a licensed adult at least twenty-one (21) years of age, or sibling at least eighteen (18) years of age. Additionally, between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., an intermediate Licensee may not transport more than one passenger under the age of twenty-one (21) years of age that is not a member of the immediate family.

Stage 3: Class E license

  • Must successfully complete STAGES 1 AND 2 OR
  • Must be at least seventeen (17) years of age prior to application for first license.

NOTE: Applicants eighteen (18) years of age or above who have not entered the graduated licensing program may apply for full Class E license or a learner’s permit upon completion of a thirty-eight (38) hour driver’s education course or a six (6) hour pre-licensing course and an eight (8) hour behind-the-wheel course. An out-of-state applicant, sixteen (16) years of age who has had a license or permit for a minimum of one hundred eighty (180) days may be eligible to bypass the learner’s permit stage and be issued an intermediate license.