Massachusetts Driver Education

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there are lawful necessities before a young person can start a formal driver's education program. Like most states, age is an imperative factor when making an allowance for driving. While not all young people develop at the same pace, there are certain ages that we feel grant them some semblance of "accountability."

According to state law, young people in Massachusetts cannot begin their drivers ed classroom instruction until they reach at least 15 years, 9 months of age.

There are also guidelines having to do with how old the passenger of a car driven by a driver that inexperienced should be. While there are no certain age requirements, the law maintains that the passenger must be a parent or legal guardian of the driver. This limits the amount of time that the teenager can spend driving, and, therefore, decreases the risk of that particular young person getting into driving trouble while they are still learning the fundamentals. After the teen gets his/her learner's permit, the passenger can be anyone as long as that person is over the age of 21.

There are also laws that control how many hours the learner should have before he/she can get their learner's permit. A minimum of 40 hours supervised driving (supervision should be under a parent or guardian) or 30 hours if the learner has completed an "advanced driving" session. This ensures that the teen has some time learning the restrictions of the road and can handle rudimentary driving situations.

Residents of Massachusetts (MA) are required to have a valid MA license to legally operate a vehicle in MA. Out-of-state or foreign-licensed drivers MUST obtain a MA driver's license upon becoming a MA resident.

Photo-Image Licenses

Massachusetts Photo-Image License In February of 1995, Massachusetts began issuing Photo Image Licenses. This digitized license has increased security for our customers by making it tamper-resistant. This form of licensing also makes it easier and quicker for the RMV to issue replacements and to add endorsements. As another means of protecting yourself and your privacy, Massachusetts uses a state assigned number on all license and ID cards. This randomly assigned number is a nine-digit number starting with the letter "S" and followed by eight numerals. You must provide the RMV with a valid social security number. Your photo image license is valid for up to five (5) years and is issued to expire on your birthday. This technology is also used for the Mass and Liquor Identification Cards.

Photo-image ID's

For people who do not have a Massachusetts driver's license, the RMV can issue one of two official identification cards - The Massachusetts ID and Massachusetts Liquor ID. While these two ID's look similar to driver's licenses, they do not extend any driving privileges. These two ID cards are official forms of identity, signature, and age that are accepted in the Commonwealth.