The GDL or Graduated Driver Licensing is a means to grant new drivers privileges for driving while setting a certain set of restrictions based on driver age and experience.
Eventually, through time and testing the driver's skill, they are slowly allowed to "graduate" into full driving privileges.
So what's the difference? - Learner's Permit In the state of Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, North and South Dakota, Idaho, Montana and Michigan, potential drivers from the age of 14 (with some states requiring 14 1/2 to almost-15) are allowed to apply for a learner's permit.
All of the above states mentioned also make it mandatory for new drivers to have a holding period of at least 6 months until they get an intermediate license.
Except for Kansas, which requires 12 months and South Dakota requires 3 months holding if you have completed Drivers Education.
In the states of Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado (with Driver's Ed), Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming require potential drivers to be of the age 15 and up to be allowed to apply for a learner's permit.
In Delaware, with Drivers Education you can apply at 15years 10 months.
All of these states require a holding period ranging from 10 days to 9 months, with the exception of New Hampshire which has none.
Connecticut, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island require their drivers to be at least 16 before they get a learner's permit.
With all of them requiring a holding period of 6 months, except for Connecticut which shortens that holding period to 4 months, if the driver completed Driver's Ed.
All of these states have a different required number of supervised driving hours (average 30 to 60 hours), which include nighttime driving.
Almost all learners' permit holders are not allowed to travel between states.
Should they break this rule, they are punished under the laws of the state they will be caught in.
So what's the difference? - Intermediate License Only New Jersey requires drivers to be at least 17 to be eligible for an intermediate license, while North Dakota does not currently have an intermediate stage.
All the rest require drivers to be at least 16, with their learner's permit holding period fulfilled and their driving skills assessed to get an intermediate license.
When it comes to nighttime driving restrictions, only North Dakota and Vermont do not have them.
All the other states vary their restrictions from either sunset to sunrise or late at night to early morning for intermediate license holders.
South Dakota, Mississippi, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa and Florida currently do not have restrictions when it comes to passengers.
To be on the safe side, the ruling for most states is having no more than 1 or 2 passengers who are under the age of 21, or not having passengers at all for the first few months of the intermediate license.
So what's the difference? - Full, Unrestricted License Until a driver goes through having a learner's permit and an intermediate license, the idea is, they have done enough supervised driving to increase their skills and learn the rules of the road to be allowed the full unrestricted license by age 18.
Restrictions still vary between states, but laws are being discussed so that 18 is the age required to be allowed to drive without the nighttime and passenger restrictions.
Won't this make getting a license take longer? All states, with the exception of North Dakota have the three stages of the GDL and all states that have enforced graduated driver's licensing have reported drops in fatal crashes.
With new laws and the revisions to current ones being approved, the future may see a stricter implementation of GDL laws, along with better-skilled and better-qualified drivers.