Michigan Driving Practice: Instructor Hours and Your Home Log

Before Level 1: the instructor's share

Every certified program delivers the same floor: 24 classroom hours over three weeks or more, 6 hours driving with an instructor and 4 hours observing in the training car. Some schools include more, and the state warns that a few bill separately for added drives an instructor considers necessary.

The order is fixed. No driving before 4 classroom hours, no more than one hour of driving per day, half of the 6 hours done before the last class, and any remaining drives wrapped up within three weeks of the final class. Sort out rides in advance: expect roughly twelve classroom sessions of two hours each plus six individual lessons behind the wheel.

Before Level 1: practice on a Parent Driving Permit

The only practice outside the instructor's car before Level 1 is with your teen's own licensed parent or guardian on a Parent Driving Permit, issued by the Segment 1 provider once you authorize it. Nobody else qualifies on that permit: not a grandparent, an older brother or sister, or a family friend.

On Level 1: who can sit beside your teen

You, a legal guardian, or anyone 21 or older you choose to designate, provided their license is valid and unexpired. A designee should carry your signed letter giving them permission.

On Level 1: keeping the log

The log is the state's only evidence that practice happened, and it gets checked twice. Before Segment 2 the total has to reach 30, two of them after dark. For the road test it has to reach 50, ten after dark, and bear your signature.

You receive the Supervised Driving Guide at the Level 1 visit, and it is online too. It has lesson plans, a sample log and coaching tips. A homemade log is fine if it follows the guide's layout. Write each session down when it ends rather than piecing hours together later.

• Date, plus start and finish times
• Minutes driven, and whether it was dark
• Type of road and the weather
• Supervisor's initials each time, your signature at the end

On Level 1: coaching the hours

The guide asks parents to expect errors, stay calm, keep instructions short and repeat a skill until it is right. It also asks you to keep your teaching consistent with the instructor's, and to check with the instructor when the two of you disagree.

Begin in an empty parking lot with starting, stopping, braking and turning. Graduate to quiet side streets, then to traffic, highways and night drives. Remember you are the model your teen has been watching for years, so obey every law and keep your own phone out of reach.

A worked example of the 50 hours

Suppose Level 1 is issued on April 1. Driving 45 minutes four evenings a week gives about 3 hours a week. By early July you pass 30 hours and Segment 2 opens, as long as at least 2 of those hours were after dark. By the start of August you reach 50, so the hours are not what holds you back; the six months on Level 1 are, and they end on October 1. Use August and September for night driving, rain and test-route rehearsal, and you will have your 10 night hours with room to spare.

Near the end: practicing for the skills test

The test has three parts, a vehicle inspection, basic control skills and a road drive, and failing any of them ends it. Use the last stretch of practice on the study guide's maneuvers, on roads like the ones near your chosen testing business.

Switch off self-parking, the 360 degree camera view and any steering assist when you practice, since the examiner will not allow them. Look over the car too. A broken taillight or a missing mirror is enough to cancel the test, and the examiner will ask to see No-Fault proof, registration and a current tab on the plate.

For adults: practice on a TIP

There is no hour quota for anyone 18 or older; the only rule is 30 days holding the TIP before the road test. Any adult with a valid license can coach you, or a certified provider can for a fee. The Supervised Driving Guide is useful for adult learners too, according to the Department of State.

If you buy lessons, ask how many hours the provider recommends after a first drive, whether it will drive you to the test, and whether its lessons rehearse the maneuvers the examiner uses. The state's provider search shows providers that teach adults.