Iowa opens roads to 14-year-old drivers

A new law has gone into effect in Iowa that allows students to get their driver’s license, allowing them to drive unaccompanied, at the age of 14 and a half.

There are, as you can imagine, some limitations. The license, called a Special Minor’s Restricted License, dictates that young drivers can only use the license to go to school and work, for extracurricular activities, or to complete farm work to help parents or employers. They will be required to complete a driving course and will be required to hold a learner’s permit (known as a learner’s permit in some states) for six months with a clean driving record. (The state allows 14-year-olds to drive with adult supervision.)

If the holders of the new restricted licenses break any traffic laws while driving, they will face tougher traffic offenses than other drivers. And they are not allowed to carry more than one passenger who is not a relative.

Although Iowa’s new minimum for its restricted license is low, it is not particularly so. South Dakota also allows 14-and-a-half-year-olds to get a restricted child’s permit, allowing them to drive pretty much anywhere they want from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

However, some drivers in the province were hesitant about the influx of new drivers.

“It’s going to be dangerous for everybody, driving at night, sports in the morning,” Steve Vernon, owner of AAAA Driving School, told WQAD. “They have no idea, I mean they will get a license, and then two days later they will be driving.”