Illinois driving lesson · Getting Licensed: Exams & Young Drivers
Graduated licensing: permit and initial phases
A 3-minute lesson from the Illinois course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Illinois' Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program makes drivers ages 15-20 earn full privileges in three stages. Most teens start the permit phase at 15. You move up only by driving safely.
Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL)
Illinois' three-stage program (Permit, Initial Licensing, Full Licensing) that drivers ages 15-20 work through toward full driving privileges.
During those first 12 months (or until age 18), you may carry only one passenger under age 20, unless the passengers are your siblings, stepsiblings, children or stepchildren.
Drivers under age 19 may not use any wireless phone while driving, even hands-free. The only exception is an emergency call to law enforcement, a health care provider or an emergency services agency.
You're 16 and have been licensed for four months. Three friends, all 16, want a ride. You may take only one of them. The limit is one passenger under 20 unless they're your siblings or children.
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.
During the Permit Phase (age 15), what is the nighttime driving curfew Sunday-Thursday?
10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Midnight to 5 a.m.
11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Answer: 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Sunday-Thursday curfew during the Permit Phase is 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
During the Initial Licensing Phase, the one-passenger-under-20 limit lasts only for the first 6 months of licensing.
True
False
Answer: False
False. The limit of one non-family passenger under age 20 applies for the first 12 months of licensing, or until the driver turns 18, whichever comes first.