What is the law regarding the number of passengers a 16-year-old driver can transport?

Question: My daughter is 16 and has been driving with her driver’s license for three months. How many passengers can she transport? Does it make a difference if one of them is her brother or sister?

Answer: For the first six months, your daughter is allowed only one passenger younger than age 20, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. The exemption when no parent or guardian is present and to be able to have more than one passenger younger than age 20, is if the passengers are immediate family (brothers or sisters).

For the second six months of licensure, no more than three passengers younger than age 20 are permitted, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. The same exemption applies to immediate family here also.

I’d also like to point out nighttime driving limitations: For the first six months of licensure, driving is prohibited from midnight to 5 a.m. Exemptions are driving when accompanied by a licensed driver age 25 or older; driving between home and place of employment; driving to/from home and a school event for which the school has not provided transportation; driving for employment purposes. The nighttime limitation is lifted after the first six months of licensure.

This is a part of the “Minnesota Graduated Driver’s License Law.” Minnesota teen drivers are over-represented in traffic crashes each year due to driver inexperience, distractions, nighttime driving, speeding and lack of seat belt use. To minimize risks of crashes, injury or death, Minnesota’s graduated driver’s licensing law helps teen hone their skills during the first year of licensure by reducing exposure to high-risk situations such as carrying teen passengers and driving at night. Violating these laws is a misdemeanor.

These laws apply only to newly licensed teen drivers for the first six to 12 months, or until they reach age 18. For more information, check out www.mndriveinfo.org.

If you have any questions concerning traffic-related laws in Minnesota, send your questions to Trooper Jesse Grabow, Minnesota State Patrol, 1000 Highway 10 West, Detroit Lakes MN 56501-2205. Or reach me at jesse.grabow@state.mn.us.

Tags: life, driver