Yes in many states—but not at every hour, and sometimes not with the same supervisor who can ride with you during the day. A learner’s permit always depends on the rule printed into that permit system. Some states allow supervised practice at any hour. Others stop permit driving at 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m., or midnight. A smaller group lets practice continue overnight only when a parent or guardian is beside the learner.
The fastest safe answer is to select your state below before scheduling the drive. The state result separates three rules people often mix together: the learner-permit time window, the person who must supervise, and any nighttime practice hours required before the road test.
Maryland-specific answer
Night Driving Rules for Your State
Yes. Maryland’s learner’s permit may be used after dark with the required supervising driver seated beside the learner; the permit statute does not create a nighttime clock cutoff. The supervisor must be at least 21, have held a license for at least three years, and be licensed for the vehicle class.
A driver under 25 generally must complete 60 supervised hours, including 10 at night, in the Maryland practice log; older applicants have different totals. The midnight–5 a.m. restriction for a provisional driver under 18 is a later-stage rule, not a bar to supervised permit practice.
“At night” can mean two different things
A permit rule may use a clock—such as 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.—while a practice log may count “night” as the period after sunset. Those definitions do not cancel each other. A learner can be required to earn night hours and still be barred from driving late overnight.
For example, a state may require 10 hours after sunset but stop permit driving at 10 p.m. The lawful practice window is the overlap: after sunset and before 10 p.m., with the required supervisor. If sunset is late in summer, that window can be short. Families who leave all night hours until the last week before a road test can discover that the schedule does not work.
The permit rule is not the provisional-license curfew
Many state websites place permit and graduated-license rules on the same page. That makes it easy to apply the wrong restriction. A midnight curfew may begin only after the learner passes the road test and receives a provisional, intermediate, junior, or probationary license. In that state, supervised permit practice might still be legal after midnight.
The reverse can also happen. Florida limits a new learner to daylight for the first three months, then allows supervised driving only until 10 p.m. Washington, D.C. ends ordinary learner-permit driving at 9 p.m. Virginia bars ordinary learner-permit driving from midnight to 4 a.m. Those are permit-stage restrictions, so bringing a qualified adult does not make an out-of-window trip legal.
If you are unsure which credential you have, start with the issue date and the exact name printed on it. RouteOS’s learner permit rules guide explains how supervision, passengers, roads, and time limits fit together before licensing.
Your nighttime supervisor may need extra qualifications
A daytime supervisor is not automatically a nighttime supervisor. Several jurisdictions tighten the rule after a specified hour or after darkness:
- Massachusetts generally requires a parent or legal guardian for a permit holder under 18 from midnight to 5 a.m.
- New York limits who may supervise a junior permit holder upstate from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., while junior-permit driving is prohibited during those hours in New York City and Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
- Ohio requires a parent, guardian, or custodian beside an under-18 permit holder from midnight to 6 a.m.
- South Dakota requires parent or guardian direction from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
- Wisconsin narrows nighttime supervision to a qualified instructor or a licensed person age 25 or older with the required experience.
Check age, relationship, licensing history, and seating position before leaving. “They have a license” is not enough if the state requires a minimum age, a certain number of licensed years, a parent relationship, or the front passenger seat.
How to schedule night practice without violating the permit
- Find the exact state window. Use the state answer above, then open its official source. Note whether the rule uses sunset, darkness, or fixed clock times.
- Confirm the supervisor. Verify age, relationship, years licensed, license class, and required seat. Do this again if the drive will cross a stricter nighttime threshold.
- Choose a route that ends before the cutoff. Build in time for fuel, traffic, a wrong turn, and the return trip. The car must be parked—not merely close to home—before a hard cutoff.
- Record only qualifying time. Log the date, start and finish times, conditions, route type, and supervisor. Do not count twilight as “night” if the state defines the requirement as after sunset.
- Stop when the learner is overloaded. A legal drive can still be a poor lesson. Short, repeatable routes are more useful than chasing an hour total while the learner is tired.
For the skill side of the drive—headlight use, reduced sight distance, glare, rain, and choosing a first route—use How to Introduce Night and Rain Driving to a Teen. That coaching plan does not replace the legal permission shown here.
What counts toward required night hours?
States use different totals. Ten nighttime hours is common, but it is not universal. Georgia uses six. Iowa’s standard minor pathway uses two between sunset and sunrise, while its parent-taught option has a different total. Maryland, Minnesota, New York, and Virginia require larger night components in their specified youth pathways. Oregon requires supervised experience but does not assign a separate night subtotal in the cited experience rule.
Do not add a night-hour requirement that your state does not state, and do not assume a driver-education course always replaces the parent-supervised log. Some states reduce the total hours after approved training; others preserve the night minimum. RouteOS’s supervised driving-hours log guide shows how to keep entries that can be checked before the road test.
Crossing a state line can change the answer
A permit is issued under one jurisdiction’s law, but the state where the car is physically driven may impose its own rules or may not recognize every out-of-state learner privilege the same way. Do not plan a late-night interstate practice trip from the home-state answer alone. Check both motor-vehicle agencies before crossing the line, and use the stricter window until recognition is clear.
The practical bottom line
Night practice is often legal and often required, but “required” never means “allowed at any hour.” The lawful drive must satisfy the permit’s clock window, supervisor rule, passenger limits, and any location-specific restriction at the same time. Select the state, verify the official source, schedule the lesson inside the allowed window, and keep the permit holder supervised from the first movement of the car until it is parked.