A 17-year-old has held a Colorado driver license for four months. May the driver take an unrelated 17-year-old friend along on an ordinary trip with no qualifying adult or other exception?
Correct answer: No. The first six months prohibit that under-21 passenger.
For the first six months, a driver under 18 may not carry a non-immediate-family passenger under 21 unless a listed exception applies. This question excludes those exceptions.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (1)(a), (1)(c) and (4)(b); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 17-year-old Colorado driver has been licensed for eight months. With no qualifying adult or other exception, how many unrelated passengers under 21 may ride along?
Correct answer: At most one unrelated passenger under 21.
After six months but before a full year of licensed driving, the limit is one non-immediate-family passenger under 21 unless an exception applies. Having enough belts does not by itself remove this limit.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (1)(a)-(c); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 17-year-old Colorado driver has been licensed for three months. The passengers are the driver’s two teenage siblings, and both wear seat belts. Does the under-21 passenger restriction prohibit this trip?
Correct answer: No. Belted immediate-family passengers fit the listed exception.
The law provides an exception when all passengers under 21 are immediate family and all wear seat belts. It does not independently exempt the driver from the nighttime rule.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (1)(c)(IV); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 17-year-old newly licensed Colorado driver wants to carry two teenage friends. A 25-year-old adult in the car currently holds a valid license and has held it for three years. Does that adult satisfy the licensed-adult passenger exception?
Correct answer: Yes. This adult meets both the age and license-history conditions.
The specific licensed-adult exception requires age 21 or older, a current valid license and at least one year holding it. The described adult satisfies these conditions; separate belt and safe-driving duties remain.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (1)(c)(II); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 22-year-old adult has held a first driver license for just two months. The adult is not the teen’s parent, guardian or responsible affidavit signer. Does this person satisfy the licensed-adult exception for a newly licensed 17-year-old carrying teenage friends?
Correct answer: No. This exception requires at least one year of license history.
Age 21 by itself is insufficient for this exception: the adult must currently hold a valid license and have held it for at least one year. Other responsible-adult grounds are expressly excluded here.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (1)(c)(I)-(II); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 17-year-old Colorado driver has been licensed for five months and qualifies for no nighttime exception. Which period is restricted?
Correct answer: From midnight until 5 a.m.
The nighttime restriction for a driver under 18 during the first year of licensing runs from 12 midnight to 5 a.m., subject to the specific statutory exceptions.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (2)(a) and (4)(b); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 17-year-old in the first year of licensing must drive at 4:30 a.m. to a school-authorized activity because the school provides inadequate transportation. What document is required for this nighttime exception?
Correct answer: A signed school-official statement containing the activity’s date.
The school-activity exception requires inadequate school transportation and a signed statement from a school official containing the activity date. A school ID or another student’s message does not meet that condition.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (2)(b)(III); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 17-year-old Colorado driver in the first year of licensing needs to drive at 4 a.m. because of employment. What must the driver carry to use the necessary-employment nighttime exception?
Correct answer: A signed employer statement verifying employment.
Necessary employment is a listed exception when the driver possesses a signed statement from the employer verifying employment. A general personal errand is not the employment exception.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (2)(b)(IV); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A 17-year-old Colorado driver licensed for four months must drive at 1 a.m. on account of a genuine medical emergency. Is a medical emergency a listed exception to the teen nighttime restriction?
Correct answer: Yes. The statute expressly includes a medical-emergency exception.
Driving on account of a medical emergency is a listed nighttime exception. It does not authorize unsafe driving or turn a routine errand into an emergency.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (2)(b)(V); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A legally emancipated 17-year-old Colorado driver has held a license for three months. Does emancipation by itself remove both the nighttime restriction and the restriction on unrelated teen passengers?
Correct answer: It removes the nighttime restriction, not the passenger restriction.
Emancipation is an exception in the nighttime subsection, not in the passenger-exception list. The statutory definition requires surrendered parental responsibilities and support duties; simply living away from home does not establish it.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (1)(c), (2)(b)(VI) and (4)(a); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A Colorado driver turns 18 after being licensed for seven months. Do the age-based passenger and nighttime restrictions in section 42-4-116 continue until the first licensing anniversary?
Correct answer: No. This section’s minor-driver restrictions apply to drivers under 18.
For these restrictions, the statute defines a minor driver as someone under 18. The birthday ends these particular age-based restrictions, not other licensing conditions, traffic laws or applicable belt requirements.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (4)(b), read with (1)-(2); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A Colorado driver is still 17 but has now held a valid driver license for a full year. What happens to the passenger-number and nighttime restrictions under section 42-4-116?
Correct answer: Those first-year restrictions end; other driving laws still apply.
The passenger-number and nighttime limits described in this section apply until the required period of licensing has elapsed. Completing a full year does not waive ordinary belt, capacity or safe-driving requirements.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-4-116 (1)(a)-(b) and (2)(a); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
The person who signed a 17-year-old’s Colorado license application submits a verified written request to cancel that minor’s license. What does section 42-2-109 require the department to do?
Correct answer: Cancel the minor’s license upon the qualifying request.
The signer can request cancellation in verified written form, and the department must cancel the minor’s license. The statute excludes this cancellation procedure once the licensee is 18.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-2-109 (1)-(2); applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A Colorado driver moves to a new address. Within what time must the driver notify the department, in writing or through its official website?
Correct answer: Within 30 days of the address change.
The driver must provide notice within 30 days, including the old and new address and license number. The statute permits written notice or electronic notice on the department’s official website.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-2-119 (1)(a), address notice; applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
After a legal name change, what does Colorado’s driver-license notice statute require the licensee to do within 30 days?
Correct answer: Apply in person to renew the license under the new name.
The name-change provision requires an in-person renewal application within 30 days, subject to the applicable identity and licensing requirements. A mailing-address update does not replace this application.
Source: Colorado Revised Statutes 2026, section 42-2-119 (1)(a), in-person name-change renewal; applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
A Colorado applicant is ready to schedule the ordinary behind-the-wheel driving test. Where does the DMV direct the applicant to arrange that test?
Correct answer: With an approved third-party driving school.
Colorado DMV directs applicants to an approved third-party driving school for the driving test. The DMV appointment scheduler does not schedule this skills test; permit and license issuance are separate steps.
Source: First-time driver license — schedule and pass a drive skills test through an approved third-party school; applicable September 13, 2026. ↗
