Verified as of 2026-10-23 against DMV

Nebraska · Behind-the-Wheel Training and Supervised Driving

Nebraska Behind-the-Wheel Practice: What Parents Need

This page is for a Nebraska parent planning a teen's practice driving. Nebraska sets no minimum number of hours with a professional instructor. Instead you pick one of two paths to the School Permit or POP: an approved driver safety course whose instructor gives the written and driving tests, or 50 supervised hours, 10 of them between sunset and sunrise, that you certify on form DMV 06-91. Adults face a fixed behind the wheel requirement only after failing the driving test three times.

Practice hours without a course: 50
Night practice: 10 hours, sunset to sunrise
Form you sign: DMV 06-91, 50 Hour Certification
Who may sign: Parent, guardian, or licensed driver 21+
Adult course after 3 failed tests: 6 classroom hours + 6 in the car
Optional log: DMV 06-91A; examiners do not collect it

Step by step

Choose a path before the permit starts
The course replaces the DMV's tests; the 50 hours keep the DMV driving test. Think about cost, schedules and how many hours a parent can really ride along.
Call schools on the approved list
The Approved Driver Safety Schools list shows instructors and teaching sites. Ask each school how much in-car time it includes and when its instructor gives the driving test.
Write down every drive from day one
Use the DMV's optional 06-91A log or your own notebook: date, kind of road, light or dark, weather. Add the totals each month.
Work the skills checklist
Before you sign anything, cover turns, backing, perpendicular, angle and parallel parking, railroad crossings, passing on the highway and bad weather.
Sign form 06-91
When 50 hours, 10 at night, are done, the parent, guardian or licensed adult signs and the teen brings it, with the permit, to the licensing office.
Test, or let the school report
Course students' results go to the DMV electronically. On the 50 hour path, your teen takes vision and driving tests at the DMV.

Before you choose: what Nebraska does and does not require

The POP rules give no fixed number of classroom or in-car hours for a safety course. The DMV approves and audits the schools, and each school decides its own course length within the rules. So compare what each one actually offers instead of assuming every course is identical.

What every approved course does give you is the testing shortcut. Its instructors may give the DMV driving test, and once the DMV has passing results it drops both the written and driving tests for the SCP or POP. That is the main reason families pay for a school instead of doing the 50 hours.

If you take the 50 hour path: what counts

When you sign form DMV 06-91 you are saying your teen has driven lawfully for at least 50 hours, 10 or more between sunset and sunrise, in conditions that mirror an approved safety course. You are also vouching that your teen is ready and able to drive safely, so the form is about skill, not only time.

Hours driven before any permit was issued do not count. Hours driven under a Nebraska LPE, SCP, LPD or Class O, or under another state's license or permit, do count once that document existed, according to the DMV's examiner manual.

If you take the 50 hour path: who supervises and signs

For every one of the hours, the adult in the car is a parent, a guardian, or someone 21 or older holding a current Nebraska operator's license or another state's license. While your teen is on an LPE or LPD, that adult sits in the front passenger seat.

Any of those adults may sign, not just a parent. If an aunt or a family friend did most of the driving with your teen, they can sign, as long as they really saw the hours they are vouching for. Example: 50 hours across six months is just under two hours a week, so a regular Saturday drive plus one evening run covers it, and the evening drives in winter take care of the night hours early.

Every week: using the state's checklist and log

Form 06-91A, the Suggested Driving Skills Checklist and Driving Log, is two pages. The checklist side lets you tick off skills your teen has done well several times: smooth starts and stops, lane changes with a look over the shoulder, safe following distance, yielding, intersections and adjusting speed on the highway. The log side has columns for the date, the type of place, day or night, weather, minutes driven and your initials.

The form itself says it is a courtesy and does not have to be shown to examiners. It is still the easiest way to be sure those 10 night hours really happened before you sign the official certification.

Help from the state

From the DMV's graduated licensing page you can open the Parent's Supervised Driving Program, a series of lessons in order, each built around one skill, so you teach in a sequence instead of making it up. The same page links a short GDL brochure covering permit and POP limits.

Health and Human Services offers a parent and teen driving agreement for writing down rules on phones, passengers and night driving. A good moment to sign it is the day the POP arrives, since the one passenger limit of the first six months is easy to forget.

If you live in a rural county

Many approved schools teach at public and private high schools around the state, so look on the list for your own district first. Some schools teach at several sites.

If no approved course is offered in your county, the law has a backstop: the DMV says the Nebraska Safety Center shall offer an approved course at least once a year in any county without one. Phone the Safety Center at the University of Nebraska at Kearney for dates, or plan on the 50 hours.

For adults: the 6 plus 6 rule

A first Class O carries no hour requirement for adults. The one exception is after three failed driving tests in a row: you must then show an approved driver training course with at least six classroom hours and six hours of driving, or 90 days or more on an LPD, before applying again.

Those courses come from the DMV's Driver Training Schools list, which is separate from the teen safety school list. A few rehabilitation programs on it serve drivers with physical disabilities and older adults, and the DMV notes they are not meant for applicants who need the 6 plus 6 course after failing.

Nebraska teen drivers ed: common questions

How many practice hours does my teen need?

Fifty, with 10 or more between sunset and sunrise, if your teen does not take an approved safety course. Course graduates do not file the 50 hour form.

Are professional lessons required?

Not a set number for teens. A safety course is optional, and each school decides how much in-car instruction it includes.

Can someone other than me sign the 50 hour form?

Yes: a guardian, or any licensed driver 21 or older with a current Nebraska or out of state license who actually supervised the hours.

Does the examiner want to see our log?

No. The 06-91A log is optional and nobody collects it. The required paper is form DMV 06-91 with your signature on it.

Do hours from another state count?

Yes, if they were driven after that state's license or permit was issued.

What if an adult fails the driving test three times?

Either an approved course with six classroom and six driving hours, or 90 days on an LPD, before the next attempt.

Our county has no approved course. What now?

The Nebraska Safety Center is supposed to offer one at least once a year in such counties. Call for dates, or use the 50 hour path.

Behind-the-Wheel Training and Supervised Driving in another state

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Sources

Rules change. If a source above says something different from this page, the source is right. Last checked 2026-10-23.

Step by step

Choose a path before the permit starts

Call schools on the approved list

Write down every drive from day one

Work the skills checklist

Sign form 06-91

Test, or let the school report