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What Counts as Night Driving in Missouri?
Yes, you can drive at night with a Missouri permit. There’s no curfew. Missouri requires 10 of your 40 supervised hours to happen after sunset before you’re eligible for a license.
That’s 25% of your total practice. And Missouri is one of fewer than 10 states in the country where driver’s ed isn’t required at all.
What “Night” Means in Missouri
Missouri defines night as sunset to sunrise, not a fixed clock time. When the sun sets, night begins.
Kansas City sunsets range from roughly 5:00 PM in December to 8:45 PM in June. Nearly 4 hours of variation across the year. A 6 PM drive in November counts as night. That same drive in July is mid-afternoon light.
If you’re tracking hours on paper, you need to look up local sunset time before every session to know which side of the line you’re on. Moda handles this automatically using GPS data. It checks actual sunrise and sunset for your location and tags each session correctly.
No Permit Curfew
Missouri doesn’t restrict when permit holders can practice. The supervision requirement is a licensed driver at least 21 years old in the front seat. There are no time-of-day restrictions.
Unlike most states, Missouri also doesn’t require driver’s ed. A 15-year-old can study independently, pass the written test, and get a permit without any formal coursework. That means the supervised driving hours are often the only structured preparation a teen gets.
Getting to 10 Night Hours
10 out of 40 total hours is 25% of everything. Most families treat night hours as the last thing to check off, which usually means rushing them in the final weeks before the road test, when everyone’s stressed and nobody wants to be in the car.
Don’t do that. Night driving takes adjustment. The first several sessions should be short, low-stakes, familiar roads. Cramming 10 hours into the last month doesn’t give your teen time to get comfortable.
The better approach: start night hours in the first week. One 30-minute after-dinner drive twice a week adds up to about 4 hours per month. At that pace, you’ll clear 10 hours by month three and still have time to finish the remaining day hours before the 6-month hold period is up.
Missouri’s position in the Central time zone gives you useful winter windows. Kansas City sunset hits around 5:00 PM in December. Any drive that starts at 5:15 PM in December counts as night, no late-night required.
In summer, you’d have to wait until nearly 9 PM for that to be true. Plan accordingly. Front-load your night hours in fall and winter.
Missouri Permit Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Total supervised hours | 40 |
| Required night hours | 10 |
| 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 | No |
Practical Tips
Use November through February. Kansas City gets early sunsets through the whole winter stretch. December is especially useful. Sunset around 5 PM means a 5:30 PM drive is a night drive. No late-night scheduling, no disrupted sleep.
Cover the actual roads your teen will drive. Missouri has a mix of dense suburban streets, rural highways, and interstate driving. If your teen is going to be on I-70 at night after they get their license, get some supervised interstate night practice in beforehand.
Rain counts. Missouri gets a fair amount of rain, especially spring and early summer. A rainy night drive is harder than either condition alone: road reflection, reduced visibility, trickier lane markings. It’s worth doing at least 2–3 sessions in wet conditions.
Log everything. Even without a driver’s ed requirement, Missouri may ask for your driving log before the road test. A well-documented log with dates, times, and locations is what you want, not a reconstructed estimate from memory.
Since Missouri skips driver’s ed for many teens, the supervised hours are carrying a lot of weight. Make them count.
Moda automatically calculates the day/night split for every session. You’ll always know your exact count on both, no guessing.
For full Missouri permit requirements, see our Missouri permit hours guide.
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