South Dakota permit holders cannot drive between 10 PM and 6 AM — that’s the curfew. Night hours for your permit log also fall in that same window. Which creates the same planning challenge as Oklahoma: how do you accumulate night hours during a window you’re not supposed to drive?

There’s also a requirement most families don’t see coming: 10 hours in bad weather. South Dakota is one of only two states in the country that mandates inclement weather practice.

What South Dakota Calls “Night”

South Dakota uses fixed clock times: 10 PM to 6 AM. Not sunset. The clock.

This makes categorization simple. A 9:45 PM drive is day. A 10:15 PM drive is night. No sunset lookups, no location-based calculations. Sioux Falls sunset runs from about 4:45 PM in December to 9:00 PM in late June, so there’s a long stretch of actual darkness before 10 PM each evening — but South Dakota doesn’t count any of it as night.

The Curfew Rules

Permit holders can’t drive between 10 PM and 6 AM. That’s a hard restriction. Like Oklahoma, the night window and the curfew are the same block, so night hours can only be accumulated through supervised sessions authorized beyond standard permit conditions — typically through a licensed driver’s ed program.

If you’re in a formal driver’s ed course, ask your instructor directly whether the program includes night driving sessions and how they’re logged with the Division of Motor Vehicles. If you’re doing the permit without driver’s ed, contact the South Dakota DMV before you’re close to applying for a license. You need a plan for the night hours before you need them.

The Bad Weather Requirement

South Dakota requires 10 hours of driving in adverse conditions — rain, snow, or fog. This is separate from the night hours requirement. You need both.

Only Pennsylvania has a similar requirement. Most states leave weather practice to the family’s discretion. South Dakota mandates it.

This is actually good news for preparation. A driver who’s never sat behind the wheel in a January snowstorm is a different kind of risk than one who has 10 hours of it. But it does require planning.

Sioux Falls averages around 40 inches of snow per year. If you’re doing your permit hours between November and March, you’ll have no trouble finding adverse conditions. If you’re trying to finish in summer, you may need to specifically seek out rainy days or drive during thunderstorm windows. Log the weather type for every adverse session — you’ll need documentation.

South Dakota Permit Requirements

Requirement	Details
Total supervised hours	50
Night hours required	10
Bad weather hours required	10
Night window	10 PM to 6 AM (fixed)
Permit curfew	10 PM to 6 AM
Minimum permit age	14
Permit hold period	6 months (with driver’s ed) / 9 months (without)
Supervisor minimum age	21
Driver’s ed required	No

Practical Tips

South Dakota allows permits at age 14 — among the youngest in the country. That’s a two-year window before most teens would get their full license. Use it.

The 9-month hold without driver’s ed versus 6 months with it is a real incentive. If the question is whether driver’s ed is worth it, three months of waiting is an argument on its own.

Log bad weather sessions separately. When rain or snow is actually falling, that’s a session that counts. A slick road after the storm doesn’t count — the weather needs to be active during the drive. Keep notes on conditions. Your log should be specific enough to defend.

Don’t save adverse weather hours for winter if you start in spring. You’ll be trying to time drives around actual weather events and running out of qualifying days as the deadline approaches.

The night hours situation requires a phone call to the DMV or your driving school. Make it early.

Tracking Your Hours

Two special requirements — night and adverse weather — mean your log needs to track three separate totals: total hours, night hours, and bad weather hours. Moda handles all three. Start a session, drive, stop. It logs conditions and timing automatically, so you always know exactly where you stand on each category.

For full South Dakota permit requirements, see our South Dakota permit hours guide.

Download: Moda on the App Store

Stop manually tracking hours. Moda logs driving automatically.

Auto-detects night driving, exports DMV forms, and syncs across family phones.