The state legislature approved a graduated drivers license bill in February.

The bill, which becomes law Tuesday, restricts 16-year-old and some 17-year-old drivers from driving between midnight and 6 a.m. or from driving with more than four people in the car.

In addition, 16-year-olds must have signed permission from a parent or guardian to get a driver's license.

Alabama is among 40 other states that have some form of a graduated drivers license law.

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Restrictions for Teen Drivers in Alabama

The House and Senate Judiciary Committee approved a measure that will establish new restrictions on drivers 17 and younger. The law takes effect Oct. 1, 2002.

Restrictions include:

• Sixteen-year-olds cannot drive between midnight and 6 a.m., unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian, are driving to or from a job, school or church event or are driving in an emergency.

• Sixteen-year-olds cannot drive with more than four people in a vehicle, not counting parents or guardians.

• A seventeen-year-old can get an unrestricted driver's license if he or she had been driving for at least six months with no traffic violations.
  
  • Those with violations would have to post six months of clean driving before receiving the unrestricted license.
    
  • Married teens and anyone 18 or older automatically could get unrestricted licenses.

• A 16-year-old applying for a restricted license must submit signed permission from a parent or guardian allowing the teen-ager to drive without supervision. The 16-year-old also will have to submit a signed statement from a parent that the teen had completed at least 30 hours behind the wheel under a learner's permit or submit proof of completing an approved driver's education class.

Source: http://www.theiacp.org/leg_policy/legupdate/alabama.pdf (The International Association of Chiefs of Police)