Getting a License, Minor Drivers, Losing Your License, Seat Belts and Impaired Driving: Residency and the 30-Day Rules, the Written Test, Instruction Permits and the 21-Year-Old Supervisor, the Drive Test and How It Is Scored, the Affidavit of Liability, the 12-Month Permit and 50 Practice Hours, Passenger and Curfew Restrictions, Ways to Lose Your Privilege, Who Must Buckle Up, Child Restraint Ages and Weights, DWAI Versus DUI, BAC Limits, Penalties, Marijuana and Polydrug Impairment, Express Consent and the Ignition Interlock

Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Colorado driving knowledge test. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.

Source: Colorado Driver Handbook (Colorado DMV, DR 2337, December 2024 edition), "Getting a Driver License", "Minor Drivers", "How You Can Lose Your License", "Seat Belt Laws" and "Driving Under the Influence" (pages 1–5).

Who needs a license

Anyone who drives a motor vehicle, motor-driven cycle or moped on Colorado's public roads must be 16 or older with a valid license. You become a resident by owning or operating a business here, living in the state 90 days continuously, or working here, and you then have 30 days to get a Colorado license, unless you are active-duty military, a military dependent, or living here mainly to attend school. A name or address change must be reported to the DMV within 30 days.

The written and drive tests

The knowledge test covers this handbook: signs, impaired driving, driving rules, safety and legal points; practice quizzes are online and in the myColorado app, and written tests are not given within 30 minutes of an office's closing time. Passing it makes you eligible for an instruction permit, which gives limited privileges to learners: while driving on a permit you must have a person 21 or older with a valid Colorado license in the front passenger seat.

The drive test is the most important step because it shows you can drive safely. State offices are not currently scheduling drive tests; some county offices do, and most tests are given by certified commercial driving schools, which may supply a vehicle or require yours with current insurance and registration. The examiner checks brake lights, turn signals, seat belts, windshield, tires and that doors and windows open from inside. Only the driver and examiner may be in the car (no interpreters, family, friends or pets), weapons must be removed, electronics including the radio and phone turned off, and objects cleared from the dashboard and mirror. If you fail, you wait until the next business day to retry. You may ask questions before the test; afterward unnecessary talk interferes, and you are scored the whole time.

The test follows AAMVA guidelines and assesses perceptual skill (judging gaps, spotting hazards), motor skill (handling the controls) and attentional skill (monitoring traffic while merging). Maneuvers scored are left and right turns, stopping at intersections, driving through intersections, lane changes in traffic, general driving and merging. The grading factors: lane selection (enter, approach and end in the proper lane); lane management (stay in the turning lane, both hands on the wheel, hand-over-hand or push-pull-slide steering, turn right from the right-most and left from the left-most part of your lane, finish centered, no driving over markings or curbs); turn signals on continuously 100 feet before a turn or lane change in urban areas and 200 feet on four-lane highways, and cancelled within 3 seconds afterward; speed control (smooth deceleration, steady speed in a lane change, approach so you can turn without braking in the turn); stopping (a complete stop with no forward motion, not over the stop line or crosswalk, wheels straight while stopped, and an adequate gap, meaning you can see the rear wheels of the car ahead touching the ground); smooth acceleration without lugging, coasting, impeding traffic, clashing gears or stalling; and searching (over the shoulder before lane changes, mirrors, left-right-left before intersections, a look behind after every turn; cameras and warning systems are allowed but do not replace looking).

Minor drivers

An applicant under 18 files an Affidavit of Liability and Guardianship signed before a license office employee or notary by a parent, stepparent, grandparent with power of attorney, legal guardian, spouse over 18 or another responsible adult, who takes legal responsibility for the minor's driving and may withdraw, which cancels the permit or license. Minors in foster care can be exempt. A minor must hold the instruction permit 12 months before applying for a license and submit a signed log of 50 hours of driving, 10 at night. Under 16 years and 6 months the minor also completes 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training with an approved instructor; where no approved school within 30 miles offers at least 20 hours of training a week, 12 extra hours with the parent or permit supervisor may substitute, and a printed map of the route to the nearest school is required.

While under 18, for the first six months after the license is issued no passengers under 21 are allowed unless a parent or another licensed adult rides along; after six months, one passenger under 21; siblings and medical emergencies are exceptions; after one year as many passengers as there are seat belts. For the first year, driving between midnight and 5 a.m. is banned unless an instructor, parent or guardian is aboard, except to and from school or work with a signed statement, in a medical emergency, or for emancipated minors. Passengers of any driver under 18 must be belted or restrained, and their number may not exceed the seat belts.

How you can lose your license

Driving is a privilege that can be suspended, revoked or canceled for reaching the point total for suspension, a conviction for driving under the influence, refusing an alcohol or drug test, failing to report a crash or leaving a crash without stopping, exchanging information and giving aid, failing to report a crash under the Financial Responsibility Law, false information on the application, an unpaid crash judgment, lending or misusing your license, skipping a DMV re-examination, vehicular homicide, unpaid child support, failing to show proof of insurance to an officer (you must carry it while driving), and a conviction for buying or possessing alcohol under 21.

Seat belts and child restraints

The driver, front-seat passengers and all children under 16 must wear fastened belts in any vehicle with factory belts on a public road. The only exceptions are emergency personnel, passenger and school buses, farm equipment, delivery-van drivers on the job, and anyone carrying a physician's written statement excusing them. If no parent is aboard, the driver must make sure each child is restrained: under 2 and under 40 pounds, rear-facing in the rear seat; under 2 and 40 pounds or more, rear- or forward-facing; 2 to 3 years and at least 20 pounds, rear- or forward-facing in the rear seat if one is available; 4 to 8 years and at least 40 pounds, a child restraint or booster in the rear seat if available; 9 to 18, a seat belt or child restraint per the manufacturer.

Driving under the influence

Alcohol is a depressant that slows thinking, reasoning, coordination, reflexes and reaction time, and judgment worsens as the dose rises. It is illegal to have an open container of alcohol or of marijuana in the passenger area of a vehicle on a public road. DWAI (driving while ability impaired) means impaired to the slightest degree; DUI means substantially incapable of safe driving. Convictions rest on observed driving, the officer's contact and field sobriety tests, not only on blood alcohol, but a BAC above 0.08 percent is DUI per se, and a license can be revoked for refusing a test or for a BAC over 0.08, over 0.02 under 21, or over 0.04 with a commercial license. BAC depends on the amount drunk, body weight, the time over which it was drunk, time since the last drink and the person's sex; beer, wine and liquor do not differ, since 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine and 1.5 ounces of spirits hold the same alcohol. Only time sobers you; BAC falls about 0.015 percent per hour.

The handbook's table for drivers 21 and older: a first DWAI at 0.05 percent carries 8 points, a $200–$500 fine, 2–180 days in jail and 24–48 hours of public service; a first DUI at 0.08 percent a 9-month revocation, $600–$1,000, 5–365 days jail, 48–96 hours service; a second DWAI or DUI a 1-year revocation, $600–$1,500, 10–365 days, 48–120 hours; a third or later a 2-year revocation, $600–$1,500, 60–365 days, 48–120 hours. A driver under 21 convicted of DUI or DWAI faces revocation on a first conviction if they fail a court-ordered evaluation or program, and mandatory revocation on a second or third; anyone under 21 convicted of buying or possessing alcohol faces revocation even if no driving was involved.

Impairment by any drug, illicit, marijuana, prescription or over the counter, is illegal and carries the same penalties, and medicinal use is no defense. Marijuana affects thinking, judging and planning and coordination, reaction time and tracking, and unlike alcohol its blood level does not track impairment, but 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood gives a permissible inference of DUI (none for DWAI). Polydrug impairment, mixing two or more substances, is more common in Colorado than any single drug except alcohol and more dangerous. Officers are trained to document impairment whatever its cause.

Under the express consent law, driving in Colorado means you have agreed to a chemical test of blood, breath, saliva or urine when an officer suspects impairment. Refusing brings a one-year revocation and an ignition interlock on any vehicle you drive for two years; the interlock needs a breath sample before the engine starts and periodically while driving. Other suspensions from the same incident run consecutively afterward. Colorado does not allow plea bargaining out of an alcohol or drug driving offense.

Practise this with Colorado Driver License questions

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