What Counts as Night Driving in Hawaii?

Yes, you can drive at night with a Hawaii learner’s permit. 10 of your 50 required hours need to happen between sunset and sunrise. There’s no permit curfew. A 21+ licensed supervisor in the car is all that’s required.

Hawaii’s night driving situation has a quirk that no mainland state can match: the sunset times barely change all year. That’s either convenient or slightly annoying depending on when you’re trying to drive.

What “Night” Means in Hawaii

Hawaii defines night as sunset to sunrise. No fixed clock time. The moment the sun sets, night hours begin.

Here’s what’s different about Hawaii: on Oahu, sunset ranges from about 5:50 PM in December to 7:20 PM in June. That’s a swing of only 90 minutes. States in the northern mainland see 4 to 5 hours of variation. Minnesota’s June sunset is past 9 PM. Idaho’s is after 9 PM. Hawaii’s is 7:20 PM year-round, give or take.

What this means practically: night driving in Hawaii starts earlier and stays earlier. There’s no winter trick of catching sunset at 4:30 PM. Your evening drives after 8 PM are night hours any month of the year. Driving after dinner almost always counts, regardless of season.

No Permit Curfew

Hawaii doesn’t restrict permit holders to specific night hours. Any time after sunset is fair game, as long as your 21+ supervisor is with you. The curfew restrictions kick in after licensing. A provisional license holder under 18 can’t drive between 11 PM and 5 AM without a parent or guardian. The permit phase has no such limit.

Getting Your 10 Night Hours Done

50 hours over 6 months is about 2 hours per week. The 10 night hours break out to roughly one night session per week for the first 10 weeks, or spread them more loosely over the full 6 months.

Hawaii’s consistent sunset schedule means you don’t need to plan around seasons. A drive that starts at 8 PM is always a night drive. That’s actually easier to schedule than a state where you’re trying to time October sunsets or December darkness.

Island geography shapes your route options. On Oahu, you have access to H-1, H-2, and H-3 for highway-style night driving, plus the grid of Honolulu city streets for urban conditions. Rural roads on windward Oahu give you a low-traffic, low-light experience. Maui and the neighbor islands have their own patterns: fewer multi-lane roads but more open terrain.

Aim for variety. Mix city driving with highway and residential. Night hours that include different road types and lighting conditions are more valuable practice than 10 hours of the same neighborhood loop.

25 minutes after dinner three nights a week is just over 2 hours per week. At that pace, your 10 night hours are finished in about 5 weeks. Most families take longer because they don’t make it a habit, not because the requirement is hard to meet.

Hawaii Permit Requirements

Requirement	Details
Total supervised hours	50
Night hours required	10
Day hours required	40
Night definition	Sunset to sunrise
Minimum permit age	15½
Permit hold period	6 months
Supervisor minimum age	21
Driver’s ed required	Yes, for under 18
Permit curfew	None

Practical Tips

Sunset in Hawaii is consistent but earlier than many expect. 5:50 PM in December is earlier than most mainland cities at that time of year. A family dinner that runs until 6:15 PM in December is already into full night hours.

Rain at night is a real factor. Hawaii’s trade winds bring rain frequently, and wet roads at night with headlight glare from oncoming traffic is a skill worth practicing. Don’t skip rainy-night sessions. They’re valuable.

City vs. rural makes a big difference. Honolulu has enough ambient light that it feels more like urban night driving anywhere else. Rural roads toward the north shore of Oahu or upcountry Maui are truly dark. Both conditions are worth experiencing before the road test.

Permit age is 15½, earlier than most states. That’s an advantage. Getting 50 hours done by 16½ is doable if you start early and stay consistent.

Don’t rely on your phone’s clock to determine night. Sunset on Oahu on a given day might be at 6:04 PM or 7:11 PM depending on the month and exact date. Using an estimate instead of the actual sunset time means your log might be off by 20 to 30 minutes. Those minutes matter when you’re close to the 10-hour threshold.

Moda pulls the exact sunset and sunrise times for your GPS coordinates at the start of each session and categorizes every minute accordingly. If you start a drive at 6:30 PM and sunset was at 6:12 PM that day, 18 minutes automatically get credited as day and the rest as night.

For full Hawaii permit requirements, see our Hawaii permit hours guide.

Download: Moda on the App Store

---