New Driving Laws!

Texas Students,

Please be aware that beginning September 1, 2009, the Texas legislature made some changes for teen drivers that are very important. I will provide a brief summary of those things that affect our students.

1. Beginning September 1, 2009, all persons 16-21 must take the driving test with a DPS officer or a civilian DPS employee. There will be no exemptions because you took an approved driving course. This pertains to all driver education courses, whether online or through a private driving school. I would encourage any Virtual Drive student who is eligible to go before September 1, 2009 to get their license. If you go before that time, you will still fall under the old law and rule that allows you to be exempt from having to do the driving test.

2. Starting September 1, 2009, all parents who are teaching the parent taught must have less than 6 points on their driving record. It appears at this time that all parents who have signed up for Parent Taught prior to September 1, 2009 will be grandfathered in to the old rule.

3. Starting September 1, 2009, the Graduated Driving Law will become a little stricter for the teens. Instead of the 6 month rule for GDL, it will be 12 months. In other words, for 12 months after the teen receives their license, they won’t be able to have more than one teenager in their car except for relatives, they can’t drive after midnight and they won’t be able to use Cell Phones at all while driving. The state is really going to crack down on Cell Phone usage for teens.

4. Starting September 1, 2009, the driving time to get a license will go from 14 hours, to 34 hours. This is for all driver training courses, whether online or driving school.

Those are the ones that affect you guys the most. I don’t have any more information than what I am providing at this time. There is still a lot of confusion about some other legislation that deals with teen driving, but these are the few that you need to know about right now.

Kevin Knapp
Virtual Drive President