Alaska driving lesson · Getting Your Alaska License
Provisional license rules
A 4-minute lesson from the Alaska course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
If you're under 18 and getting your first license, it starts as a provisional license. It limits passengers and late-night driving while you gain experience. Keep your record clean and the limits can come off.
The handbook also urges parents to add their own limits: talk about cell phone and stereo use, eating and drinking. Any activity, even conversation, can pull your focus off driving.
To get a provisional license (under 18, first license) you need:
A valid instruction permit held for 6 months
A parent, legal guardian, or employer to certify at least 40 hours of driving experience
At least 10 of those hours in progressively challenging conditions, like bad weather and night
No traffic-law conviction in the 6 months before you apply
Between 1:00 am and 5:00 am, the adult riding with you must be a parent, legal guardian, or a person at least 21 who is licensed to drive the class of vehicle being used.
To graduate, you need six months with no traffic-law conviction and no conviction for repeat minor consuming alcohol (AS 04.16.050(c)) before applying.
The passenger and hour limits don't apply to an "off system" license restricted to areas not connected to the land highway system or to a highway with average daily traffic of 499 or greater.
After you turn 18, or once you go to DMV and remove them, the restrictions no longer apply. Some drivers keep them until 18 because of their driving behavior.
You're 16 with a provisional license. Driving straight home from your restaurant shift at 1:30 am is allowed. Driving a friend home from a party at 1:30 am is not, unless a parent, guardian, or licensed person 21+ is with you.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
How many hours of certified driving experience are required before a 16-year-old can get a provisional license?
20 hours
40 hours
50 hours
30 hours
Answer: 40 hours
A parent, guardian, or employer must certify at least 40 hours of driving experience.
Of the required driving experience for a provisional license, how many hours must be in progressively challenging conditions like night or bad weather?
5 hours
15 hours
10 hours
20 hours
Answer: 10 hours
At least 10 of the 40 hours must be in progressively challenging circumstances such as weather or nighttime driving.
A provisional restriction on passengers and nighttime hours does not apply if the license is restricted to an area not connected to a highway with average daily traffic of what volume or more?
199 vehicles
999 vehicles
499 vehicles
299 vehicles
Answer: 499 vehicles
The note exempts 'off system' licenses where average daily traffic is not 499 or greater.