The 50-hour affidavit (BMV 5791)

Who needs it

Ohio law asks three groups for the affidavit: teens with a permit, drivers aged 18 to 20 (since September 30, 2025), and holders of a limited term, non-renewable permit who are 21 or older (since June 30, 2025). In each case the 50 hours come on top of the Class D course's 8 hours with an instructor; the instructor's hours do not count toward the 50.

If you are 21 or older with an ordinary permit, you do not need it. If you hold an unexpired license from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea or Taiwan and are applying for a limited term license, you are exempt from both the course and the hours. The BMV's permit page lists the form under each group it applies to.

What counts: 50 hours, 10 at night

The form attests to at least 50 hours of actual driving experience with an eligible adult, and at least 10 of those hours at night. Spread it over months, not weeks: the point of the rule is varied practice, in rain, in the dark, on the freeway and in a parking lot, with someone calm beside you.

A plan that works for most families: the first ten hours in daylight on quiet streets, then neighborhood traffic with four-way stops and roundabouts, then a few hours of freeway merging, and the night hours once the daytime habits are steady. Ohio winters count too; an hour on a wet or snowy road with an adult beside you is worth more than a dry summer afternoon.

The Ohio Traffic Safety Office's advice for parents says the same thing in its own words: teens are safer drivers when parents spend more time practicing with them, give constructive feedback and expose them to varied driving environments.

Who can supervise and sign

The adult beside you has to be allowed to be there under the permit rules, and the adult who signs the affidavit has to be an eligible adult under the law.

• For a driver under 21, the signer is a parent, guardian or custodian; or a person over 21 who acts in the place of a parent and keeps proof of financial responsibility (insurance) for the driving; or, for an emancipated young adult, a person over 21 with a current valid Ohio license.
• For a limited term applicant 21 or older, the signer is an adult who holds a current valid Ohio driver's or commercial driver's license and rode along for the hours.
• On the road, a permit holder under 16 drives with a parent, guardian, custodian or licensed instructor in the front seat (or an adult 21 or older acting in the place of a parent). At 16 and 17, any licensed driver 21 or older may sit there, except from midnight to 6 a.m., when it must be a parent, guardian or custodian, or a licensed driver 21 or older named on a notarized BMV 2438. At 18 and older, any licensed driver 21 or older.

The supervising adult's signature on the form is notarized. For the under-21 affidavit, knowingly making a false statement on it is a minor misdemeanor with a fine of one hundred dollars, so keep the log honest and let the hours be real.

Logging the hours

Download the BMV 5791 Fifty-Hour Affidavit early and keep it in the car. It has a supervised driving log section for each practice session. Fill in each drive the same day; a log rebuilt from memory six months later is where mistakes happen.

The state's own phone app, RoadReady Ohio, logs the practice hours and gives real-time feedback and tips. The Ohio Traffic Safety Office links the iOS and Android versions. Whichever way you log, the paper affidavit with the notarized signature is what the BMV asks for.

The night hours are the ones families tend to leave for last. One evening drive a week from the start and the 10 take care of themselves. Keep a photo of each page of the log as it fills; if the paper goes missing, the photos are your record.

Bring it to the road test

When you schedule and take the driving test, you present your permit and the completed BMV 5791, along with your driver education certificate (under 18 it must be provided; at 18 to 20 the BMV may ask for it if it cannot verify the course electronically). The form is on the document list again when you buy the license at the deputy registrar. Our road test guide has the full checklist for the day.

Under 18, you also hold the permit for at least six months before the test. Drivers 18 to 20 have no six-month wait, so the 50 hours are usually what sets the date.

Where lessons fit

The 8 hours with our instructor are part of the teen drivers ed, under-21 drivers ed and limited term drivers ed programs; they are the course's hours, separate from the 50. We pick you up for them from home, work or school (with a parent's OK) in our pickup areas, and we confirm the address when you book. Many families use the lessons to learn a skill (lane changes, roundabouts, parking) and the practice hours to repeat it until it is boring. If a skill will not settle, extra driving lessons with an instructor add time on it; the 50 hours themselves are the ones the eligible adult rides along for and signs.