Supervised Driving Practice for Arizona Teens

Before you start: comparing the routes

A.R.S. 28-3174 sets out three routes. Full driver education must be an ADOT approved program, and when a public high school runs one, ADOT approves it after consulting the Department of Education.

The middle path pairs 20 certified hours (6 at night) with a course from either an ADOT licensed traffic survival school or a defensive driving school certified by the Supreme Court. The third path skips courses entirely: 30 certified hours, 10 at night.

• Driver ed: ADOT approved program, and ADOT says the road test is waived
• Short course and 20 hours, 6 after dark: road test still applies
• Parent certified 30 hours (10 at night): road test needed

Signing off: how certification works

You do not file a detailed log with MVD. The law asks the custodial parent or guardian to certify in writing that the hours were done, and MVD provides a supervised driving certification form for it.

You are vouching to the state when you sign, so hold on to your own notes in case MVD has questions. Count only time when your teen was driving, not time spent riding as a passenger.

If you choose driver ed: the road test waiver

In its Class G guide, ADOT says completing a private or high school driver ed program, and proving it, is how the road test gets waived. Under A.R.S. 28-3164, MVD may to accept that documentation, and for class D and G it has to come from a third party the state has authorized.

Years ago ADOT announced that approved schools could issue completion certificates that waived the written test after 30 or more classroom hours and the road test after 10 or more behind the wheel hours, with some holders picked at random to test anyway. Find out from each school how much behind the wheel time is included and whether it can issue the record MVD accepts.

If you choose driver ed: finding a school

The official list of approved schools lives at azdot.gov/drivingschools. Confirm a school appears there before you pay. If a course is marketed as online, ask whether any classroom or driving portion happens in person.

The 20 hour route draws from different lists: ADOT licensed traffic survival schools, and defensive driving schools carrying Arizona Supreme Court certification. Make sure the school offers the course as teen driver education, not just as ticket diversion.

Every drive: who may ride along

With the regular permit, your teen's supervisor must hold class A, B, C or D, be at least 21, and sits next to your teen. A class G holder cannot supervise, so a 17 year old sibling does not count.

The restricted permit at 15 is narrower: approved instructors only, designated area only. After class G arrives, having you (or another licensed guardian) in the next seat is the chief way around the six month curfew and passenger limits.

What to practice in Arizona

MVD's exam checks ordinary and reasonable control of the car, so repeat the fundamentals until your teen does them without thinking: parking, signaling, gentle braking, holding a lane, and turning at crowded intersections.

Then add local conditions: freeway merges, roundabouts, monsoon downpours, dust storms, animals on rural highways and long drives after dark. In the first six months of class G only emergencies and hands off spoken navigation are allowed, so program the route before the car moves.

A worked example for night hours: in July, sunset in Phoenix comes late in the evening, so a 30 minute drive after dinner twice a week gets your teen to 10 night hours in about ten weeks.