What Counts as Night Driving in Idaho?

Yes, you can drive at night with an Idaho learner’s permit. 10 of your 50 required hours have to happen between sunset and sunrise. There’s no permit curfew. A licensed supervisor who’s at least 21 is the only requirement.

Idaho’s permit age is 14½, which is younger than most states. And because driver’s ed is only mandatory for those under 17, a 17-year-old can apply without it. That combination gives Idaho teens a wide window to start early and finish the 50 hours with time to spare.

What “Night” Means in Idaho

Idaho defines night as sunset to sunrise, no fixed clock time. When the sun goes down, night begins.

Idaho’s position makes the seasonal variation in sunset times some of the most dramatic in the lower 48. In Boise, sunset falls around 4:30 PM in December and stretches past 9:05 PM in June. That’s a swing of over 4.5 hours between the shortest and longest days.

What that means in practice: a 6:00 PM drive in late November is a night drive. That exact same drive in late June is still full daylight with two hours to spare. You can’t estimate sunset time from memory or habit. It changes by 2 to 3 minutes every single day.

No Permit Curfew

Idaho has no nighttime curfew for permit holders. You can drive at 11 PM, midnight, or later, as long as your 21+ licensed supervisor is with you. The curfew restrictions arrive with the provisional license, not the permit. Permit-phase driving has no time-of-night limits.

Getting Your 10 Night Hours Done

50 hours over 6 months is about 2 hours per week. Your 10 night hours are a fifth of that total. One dedicated evening session per week for 10 weeks handles it. Or spread it: two night drives a week for 5 weeks.

Idaho’s geography means route options vary a lot by where you live. In Boise, you have the grid of city streets and I-84 for highway practice. In rural Idaho, roads are open and dark in a way you won’t find in any city. Both are worth experiencing before the road test.

Target November through January. Boise’s 4:30 PM December sunset means a 5:00 PM drive is already dark. That’s the easiest path to night hours: you’re not staying up late, you’re just driving after an early dinner. By contrast, Idaho’s June sunset at 9:05 PM means you’d need to drive well into the evening to get the same hours. Don’t make summer the time you’re scrambling for your last few night hours.

One practical note about Idaho’s permit types: there are three classes of learner’s permit available: Class A is for commercial vehicles, and a separate restricted permit exists for farm or ranch use. If you’re a standard teen driver, you want the Class C learner’s permit. That’s the one that applies to the 50-hour requirement and the road test.

Idaho Permit Requirements

Requirement	Details
Total supervised hours	50
Night hours required	10
Day hours required	40
Night definition	Sunset to sunrise
Minimum permit age	14½
Permit hold period	6 months
Supervisor minimum age	21
Driver’s ed required	Yes, if under 17
Permit class for teens	Class C
Permit curfew	None

Practical Tips

Start early. Getting a permit at 14½ and holding it for 6 months means you can test as early as 15. If you use that time, 50 hours over 6 months is very manageable: less than 2.5 hours per week.

Idaho’s summer sunsets are late. 9:05 PM in Boise in late June. If you’re starting your permit in spring, make a plan now for how you’re going to get night hours during the long summer days. After-dinner drives that start around 9:30 PM are your window.

Rural roads at night are truly dark. If you live outside a city, your night driving conditions are nothing like driving under streetlights. That’s good practice, but it can be disorienting for new drivers who haven’t experienced it. Build up to longer night drives. Don’t start with a 45-minute stretch of highway in the dark.

Know your sunset time before you leave. Don’t guess. Idaho’s variation between seasons is too large to estimate safely. If you need a night hour and you’re not sure whether sunset has passed, check before you start the car.

The 17-year-old exemption matters. If you turn 17 before getting a permit, driver’s ed isn’t legally required. You still need the 50 hours and 6-month hold, but the enrollment step is skipped. Driver’s ed before permit is still worth doing if you’ve never driven before.

Moda looks up the exact sunset time for your location at the start of every session and tracks day versus night automatically. If you start a drive at 8:55 PM and Boise’s sunset was at 9:05 PM that day, those first 10 minutes get logged as day and the rest as night.

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

Download: Moda on the App Store

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