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What Counts as Night Driving in Minnesota?
Yes, you can drive at night with a Minnesota permit. No permit curfew here. What Minnesota does require is 15 hours of supervised night driving before you qualify for a license. That’s 30% of your total 50 hours. It’s the highest night requirement in the country, tied with New York, Louisiana, and Virginia.
Most families underestimate this. 15 hours is not a footnote.
What “Night” Means in Minnesota
Minnesota defines night as sunset to sunrise, not a fixed time like 9 PM or 10 PM. The sun sets and night begins.
That definition shifts by about 4.5 hours across the year. Minneapolis sunsets run from around 4:35 PM in December to 9:00 PM in late June. A 6 PM drive in January counts as night. That same drive in July doesn’t even come close.
On paper logs, you’d need to check local sunset time before every session to know what counts. Moda checks it automatically using your GPS location and tags each session correctly.
No Permit Curfew
Minnesota doesn’t restrict permit holders by time of day. A licensed supervisor 21 or older in the front seat is what you need. You can practice at midnight if that’s what works for your schedule.
Driver’s ed enrollment is required before getting a permit if you’re under 18 — but once you have the permit, there are no hour restrictions on when you can practice.
Getting to 15 Night Hours
15 hours is a serious requirement. It takes planning, and starting late makes it much harder.
The math: if you start night hours from week one and aim for one 30-minute night session per week, you’ll accumulate about 2 hours per month. At that pace, 15 hours takes about 7-8 months — which means you need to start before the 6-month permit hold period is even up.
A better pace: two night sessions per week. That’s about 4 hours per month, and you’ll clear 15 hours in about 4 months. Still enough time left to finish the remaining daytime hours before the road test.
Start in month one. Don’t wait until you have most of your day hours done.
Why Minnesota winters are actually your advantage: November through February, Minneapolis sunset is between 4:35 and 5:10 PM. A drive that starts at 5 PM is a night drive. You’re not staying up late. You’re just driving home from dinner. Winter in Minnesota is annoying for a lot of reasons, but it makes night hour accumulation very easy.
In summer, you’d have to wait until after 9 PM. That’s harder to schedule, especially on school nights. Get as many night hours as you can before April.
Minnesota Permit Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Total supervised hours | 50 |
| Required night hours | 15 |
| Night definition | Sunset to sunrise |
| Permit curfew | None |
| Minimum permit age | 15 |
| Permit hold period | 6 months |
| Supervisor minimum age | 21 |
| Driver’s ed required | Yes (enrollment required) |
Practical Tips
Start night drives immediately. Week one of the permit period, get one night session in. It doesn’t need to be long — 20 minutes counts. The goal is making night driving a regular habit from the start, not an end-of-permit scramble.
Use Minnesota’s winter. Worth using: the cold, dark December-February window is when you can get a night drive done at 5:30 PM. That’s the easiest time to accumulate hours. If your teen got their permit in spring, plan to push hard on night hours when fall arrives.
Range of conditions. Clear night, overcast night, light snow — each is different. Snow at night reflects headlights in odd ways and changes how far ahead you can judge distance. Minnesota gets enough snow that practicing in those conditions is just honest preparation.
Highway night driving. Before the road test, make sure your teen has driven on a freeway at night. The visual difference is real: darker surroundings, faster-moving traffic, less margin for error. Don’t save this for the first night drive after the license.
Moda tracks the day/night split automatically based on actual sunset data for your location. After 15 night hours, it confirms you’re done. Before that, you’ll always know the exact count.
For full Minnesota permit requirements, see our Minnesota permit hours guide.
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