How to log permit driving hours

What a supervised driving log needs, how the hours are counted, and what the licensing office actually looks at.

Every state with a graduated license asks parents to supervise a set number of practice hours before the road test, and most ask for proof. The proof is a log: one row per drive, with the date, the start and end time, how long it lasted, whether it was day or night, and who sat in the passenger seat. Here is how to keep one that survives six months in a family car.

The free Permit Hours app keeps this log for you, drive by drive

What each entry needs

• Date. The day of the drive. Some states want entries in order; keep them chronological.
• Start and end time. Write the clock time, with AM or PM. Several state forms say so explicitly, because "6:15" on its own cannot be checked against sunset.
• Duration. Hours and minutes, not a rounded "1 hour". A 48-minute drive is 48 minutes.
• Day or night. Your state defines night, usually by sunset and sunrise. See what counts as night driving.
• Supervising adult. The licensed adult in the car, with their initials or signature per row where the form asks for it.

Some states also ask for the conditions (rain, highway, parking) or the miles. Check your state's form on its page; the printable log here covers the common columns.

Three kinds of proof, depending on the state

States handle the log in one of three ways. Of the 50 states and DC:

• 36 publish their own form. A numbered log or affidavit that the licensing office expects at the counter. Keep your own running log, then copy the totals onto the state form (or fill it as you go).
• 9 have a parent certify the hours. No itemized log is collected; a parent signs a statement on the application that the hours were done. A log is still the only way to know you are actually there.
• 6 accept any written or app log. The state asks for a record but does not prescribe a form, so a printed app log works.

A few states take the affidavit further: Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Tennessee require a notarized form, so plan the trip to a notary before the DMV visit.

Counting hours without arguments

1. Time the drive, do not estimate it. Start the clock when the teen pulls out, stop it when the car is parked. Pauses for gas or a long stop come off the total.
2. Split day and night at the moment it happens. A drive that crosses sunset is partly day, partly night. Write the split on the row, or let the app do it from your location's sunset time.
3. Keep driver's ed separate. Hours with a professional instructor are usually a separate requirement and do not count toward the parent-supervised total. Your state page says if there is an exception.
4. Add it up every few weeks. Finding out you are 11 hours short the week of the test is the common failure.

How hours get lost

The log sheet is in the other car. A phone app was deleted when the phone changed, or the hours sat under a login nobody remembers. A parent and a grandparent each kept their own list and nobody merged them. The fixes are boring: one place for the log, a backup, and both supervisors writing to the same record.

Switching from another log

If you started on paper, enter the past drives once with their dates and times; it takes a few minutes. If you started in RoadReady or GoTime, export the PDF from that app and import it; see switching from RoadReady.