What Counts as Night Driving in Ohio?

Yes, you can drive at night with an Ohio permit — and 10 of your 50 supervised hours have to happen after dark. Ohio has no permit curfew, so your scheduling flexibility is wide open. The only thing defining “night” is sunset.

What “Night” Means in Ohio

Ohio defines night as sunset to sunrise. Not a fixed clock time. The moment the sun goes below the horizon is when your night hours begin.

Columbus sunset runs from about 5:10 PM in December to 9:05 PM in late June. That’s a nearly 4-hour difference across the year — and it’s pushed late in summer because Ohio sits on the western edge of the Eastern time zone. Geographically, Columbus is further west than Atlanta or Miami, but it observes Eastern time. The result: some of the latest summer sunsets of any major city in the eastern U.S. A 7:00 PM drive in June has nearly two hours of daylight left in it.

In winter, the flip side applies. December sunsets before 5:15 PM mean an after-school drive qualifies as a night hour.

Ohio’s Permit Curfew (There Isn’t One)

The learner’s permit has no curfew. Any hour of the day or night is legal with a qualified supervisor in the passenger seat. The restrictions start at the next stage — Temporary Instruction Permit to Probationary License — and even then it depends on age and circumstances.

Don’t confuse the permit phase with the graduated license restrictions. They’re separate. You’ve got full scheduling freedom during the permit period.

Getting Your 10 Night Hours Done

10 hours out of 50. That’s 20% of your total time — not a huge share, but enough to require intention. The trap is that daytime drives are easier to schedule, so night hours pile up at the end.

Ohio’s late summer sunsets are actually a scheduling obstacle in one sense: you can’t reliably start night hours during an after-dinner drive until mid-August or later if you start your permit in May. Sunset at 9:05 PM in June means you’d need to be driving past 9 PM to count it. That’s later than most families want to be out.

The easier window is the opposite end of the calendar. October through February, Columbus sunset is between 5:10 and 6:15 PM. An after-school drive at 5:30 PM qualifies from October through February almost any day. That’s your window to stack night hours without disrupting your normal schedule.

One Ohio-specific rule worth knowing: driver’s ed is required for anyone under 21 applying for a license. That’s broader than most states, which typically only require it for under-18 applicants. If your teen is 19 or 20 and doesn’t have a license yet, they still need driver’s ed. Get that sorted early — it affects your timeline.

Ohio Permit Requirements

Requirement	Details
Total supervised hours	50
Night hours	10
Day hours	40
Night definition	Sunset to sunrise
Minimum permit age	15½
Permit hold period	6 months
Supervisor minimum age	21
Driver’s ed required	Yes (under 21)
Official log form	BMV 2118
Permit curfew	None

Practical Tips

Get the BMV 2118 form early. Ohio’s official driving log is the BMV 2118. Download it from the Ohio BMV website or pick one up at a deputy registrar office. Start logging on it from your first session — don’t transfer records at the end.

Use October and November. This is your sweet spot in Ohio. Sunset before 6:30 PM means after-school or after-practice drives count without any late-night scheduling. Build your night hours here before winter weather makes driving more stressful.

Start in familiar Columbus-area suburbs. Your teen doesn’t need a special road for “night driving.” A lit residential street or a suburban 35 mph road they already know from daytime practice is fine for the first few sessions. Introduce busier roads and higher speeds after 3–4 night sessions.

Don’t save night hours for summer. If you start your permit in spring, summer sunsets past 9:00 PM make scheduling harder. Either plan to do night hours in the first month before daylight extends, or shift focus back to fall when the window opens again.

Expect busy roads. Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati — Ohio has major metros with real traffic. Don’t skip urban night driving entirely. Highway on-ramps, downtown intersections, and freeway merges at night are all skills your teen will use immediately after getting a license.

Moda tracks sunset and sunrise for your exact GPS location on every session, so night hours get tagged correctly whether you’re in Columbus, Toledo, or a small town in Knox County. Your totals are always accurate, and the export maps to what the BMV 2118 needs.

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

Download: Moda on the App Store

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