Maryland MVA Driving Log: How to Fill It Out
Fill out the Maryland MVA driving log column by column: what RD-006 asks for, how to count 10 night hours, who signs and what to bring to the test.
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The Maryland MVA driving log is the Practice Log in the MVA’s Rookie Driver Manual (RD-006), plus the Certification for Rookie Drivers page that follows it. Learners under 25 need at least 60 supervised hours, 10 of them at night. Learners 25 and older need 14, with 3 at night. The signed log and certification page go with you to the behind-the-wheel skills test.
The log has five columns and no place for night hours or the supervisor’s name. We’ll take it one column at a time, then work out the sunset rule in clock times and sort out who signs.
Road44, the driving log app mentioned near the end, is our app. We checked the rules below on MVA web pages, the Rookie Driver Manual (RD-006, October 2026 edition), the Maryland Driver’s Manual, Transportation Article §16-105 and COMAR on October 23, 2026. Rules change and the MVA has the final word, so confirm with the MVA before test day. This isn’t legal advice.
What Maryland’s driving log requires in 2026
The hours are set by Transportation Article §16-105. A learner under 25 needs “At least 60 hours, 10 hours of which must occur during the period beginning 30 minutes before sunset and ending 30 minutes after sunrise.” From 25 on, it’s at least 14 hours, 3 of them in that window.
The supervising driver must be at least 21 and have been licensed for at least 3 years, which the statute says can be “in this State or in another state.” Per the MVA’s learner’s permit page, they sit in the front passenger seat, and no one else rides up front.
| Age group (MVA’s wording) | Practice hours | At night | Minimum permit hold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 or under, without a high school diploma or equivalent | 60 | 10 | 9 months |
| 18, with a high school diploma or equivalent | 60 | 10 | 3 months |
| 19 to 24 | 60 | 10 | 3 months |
| 25 and older | 14 | 3 | 45 days |
Sources: RD-006 page 7, the MVA’s provisional license page and §16-105. The statute words the 9-month group as anyone “under the age of 19,” unless they’re 18 with a diploma.
A few more rules affect the timeline:
- A moving violation can push the date back. At any age, including 25 and older, a learner can’t test sooner than 9 months after their most recent moving violation conviction or probation before judgment (PBJ).
- Driver’s ed is separate: 30 classroom hours and six behind the wheel, per the MVA’s driver’s education page. Those six hours don’t count toward the 60.
- The minimum age for the provisional license is 16 years, 6 months, per RD-006’s quick reference guide.
- The permit lasts 2 years and can’t be renewed. If it expires, you retake the knowledge test, but RD-006 says “You do not need to redo Driver Education and practice hours completed before your permit expired.”
For your earliest test date, our road test eligibility date calculator has a Maryland preset for the 9-month group. For the 3-month group, pick Maryland, then type 3 in the holding-period box.
What the MVA Practice Log asks for, column by column
The log and certification page are in the Rookie Driver Manual, RD-006, a free PDF. The log fills pages 25 to 27 and the certification is page 28. A Spanish edition is online too.
The name changes with the source. The Driver’s Manual says “Practice and Skills Log,” MVA web pages say “skills practice log” or “practice skills log,” the statute says “skills log book” and COMAR says “skills log.” It’s the same log.
The log page reminds you that “60 HOURS IS A REQUIRED MINIMUM” and says “At least ten of those hours should be at night” (the statute says must). Each row has five columns, in this order:
- Date. One row per drive keeps the log easy to check.
- Start Time. Add a.m. or p.m. so nobody has to guess later.
- Skill/Activity. The manual’s own lessons make good labels: Beginning to Drive, Driving in Neighborhoods, Driving on Busy Roads, Driving in Work Zones, Expressway Driving, Night Driving, Bad Weather Conditions and Parking. Six of the eight end with a “Coach’s Checklist.” For more ideas, see what to practice in your first 50 hours.
- End Time. It sits after Skill/Activity, not beside Start Time, so watch which box you’re in.
- Total Number of Hours Completed. The form doesn’t say whether this means the session’s hours or a running total. Our suggestion, not an MVA rule: a running total shows progress toward 60 at a glance. Either way, stay consistent down the page.
What the form doesn’t ask for
- No night column. Night hours appear only in the certification statement. Our tip: for a night drive, write “Night Driving” (one of the manual’s lesson names) in Skill/Activity, and keep a night tally on the side.
- No supervisor column. Note who rode along anyway, since it matters for who signs.
- No signature on each row. One signature goes on the certification page.
Fill it in as you go. The learner’s permit page says “Your supervising driver should keep track of your supervised practice driving hours.” If drives have already slipped through, forgot to log driving hours? covers rebuilding them honestly.
Night hours: turning Maryland’s sunset rule into clock times
RD-006 puts it in one line: “Nighttime practice hours are 30 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise.” The statute, COMAR and the Driver’s Manual use the same window, so night starts while it’s still light out.
Here’s the window in Baltimore, from US Naval Observatory sun times:
| Baltimore, 2026 | Sunrise | Sunset | Night ends (morning) | Night begins (evening) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 21 | 5:40 a.m. | 8:36 p.m. | About 6:10 a.m. | About 8:06 p.m. |
| October 23 | 7:25 a.m. | 6:16 p.m. | About 7:55 a.m. | About 5:46 p.m. |
| November 2 | 6:36 a.m. | 5:04 p.m. | About 7:06 a.m. | About 4:34 p.m. |
| December 21 | 7:23 a.m. | 4:47 p.m. | About 7:53 a.m. | About 4:17 p.m. |
The window times are our arithmetic, for Baltimore only. Sunset shifts across Maryland, so look up your own town.
Even in one city, the same drive can flip: a 5 to 6 p.m. drive counts as night on December 21 and as day on June 21. Mornings count too. On October 23, a 7:15 to 7:45 a.m. drive to school falls entirely inside the window. And the clock change shifts it: the evening window opens over an hour earlier on November 2 than on October 23.
Drives that cross the line
The statute counts hours that “occur during the period,” so a drive that straddles the window’s start is only partly night. A December 21 drive from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. is 32 minutes of day and 28 of night.
Log it as two rows, 3:45 to 4:17 p.m. and 4:17 to 4:45 p.m., with “Night Driving” on the second. For your own dates, the Naval Observatory’s one-day sun data covers any town: subtract 30 minutes from sunset and add 30 to sunrise.
The certification page: who signs and what they swear to
Page 28, the Certification for Rookie Drivers, is part of the license application. It has one statement for learners under 25 and one for 25 and older. In short, the signer certifies that:
- the learner, named in a blank, completed 60 practice hours including 10 at night (or 14 including 3)
- the supervisor held a license, was at least 21 and had been licensed at least three years
- the hours are “in addition to the 6 hours of behind the wheel instruction received during the required driver education course”
So driver’s ed hours don’t count toward the 60.
Below the statement are lines for “Signature of parent, guardian, mentor, or coach,” “Date” and “Driver’s License Number.” The page doesn’t say whose license number goes there, so ask the MVA if you’re unsure.
The page also warns that it is “considered part of the license application, and anyone who certifies to a false statement may be prosecuted and/or have their license canceled.” The signer certifies “under penalty of perjury,” and under COMAR 11.17.14.13 the MVA keeps the page after the test. Whoever signs should read the whole log first.
Who signs: the sources don’t match
| Source | What it says about signing |
|---|---|
| RD-006 certification page | One line: “Signature of parent, guardian, mentor, or coach” |
| RD-006 page 6 | The log “must be signed by an individual certifying the practice driving requirements were met” |
| COMAR 11.17.14.13 | The certification page gives the learner’s name, “Permit or soundex number,” and “Parent, guardian, or mentor’s signature” |
| §16-105 | A log book “signed by each supervising driver who certifies” the requirements were met; under 19 (unless 18 with a diploma), also the parent or guardian who signed the application, where §16-107 requires one |
The form doesn’t say how to show more than one supervisor. If a second parent, a grandparent or a mentor shared the driving, call the MVA at 410-768-7000 (the number in RD-006) and ask how they want it done.
Keep a running record, then copy it onto the MVA pages
The RD-006 pages go quickly when you copy from a record kept as you drove:
- Print pages 25 to 28 of RD-006 early.
- Log every drive as soon as it ends, in a notebook or an app the supervisor runs: date, start and end time, what you practiced and who supervised.
- Check night against that day’s window, and split any drive that crossed it.
- Copy onto the MVA log on a fixed day, such as Sunday evening, one row per drive.
- Keep two totals: all hours toward 60 and night hours toward 10.
- Photograph the pages after each copy session.
- Before the test, the signer reads the whole log, then completes the certification page.
Our supervised driving hours calculator has a Maryland preset for the 60 and 10, and the driving practice schedule calculator turns what’s left into a weekly plan.
If you’re weighing paper against a phone, a Maryland study found “no statistically significant differences in any measures of self-reported practice driving by logbook type (electronic versus paper).” Our driving log template vs app guide has more.
Where Road44 fits
We built Road44 to be that running record. Pick Hours as your goal, change the all-time target to 60 (onboarding suggests 50) and set the night-hours goal to 10, or 14 and 3 if you’re 25 or older. Both goals are free.
The supervisor starts and stops a drive with a press-and-hold button, “Add past drive” covers forgotten ones, and past supervisor names come back as suggestions. There’s no GPS: every drive is started, stopped or typed in by hand.
Check the night flag. A drive is marked night if it starts between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., and one flag covers the whole drive. The app doesn’t know sunset, so it can’t apply Maryland’s window. In Baltimore, a 5 p.m. drive on December 21 is Maryland night but app day, and a 7:15 p.m. drive on June 21 is the reverse. Flip the Night drive switch to match. For a drive that crosses the window, edit it to end at the window’s start and add the rest as a past drive.
The app’s Skills practiced and Road type chips give you words for Skill/Activity. The free export (Text, CSV, PDF or PNG) always has date, duration and distance and can add supervisor and day or night. Start and end times aren’t among the fields it lists, so open each drive for those and use the export for totals and the night split.
It’s a personal record, not an official or certified logbook, and it doesn’t replace the RD-006 pages. Drives stay on your phone with no account or cloud sync, so export regularly as a backup. Recurring weekly and monthly goals, the Insights screen and the rest of the themes are in the optional Pro subscription.
Turning it in at the skills test
The MVA’s Behind-the-Wheel Tests page says to “Bring your signed skills practice log and certification page (if required).” Its test-day list also includes:
- your valid learner’s permit (it must be unexpired)
- registration and proof of insurance for the car you’re using
- verification of driver education completion, if applicable
- a supervising driver with a valid license
It warns: “If required documents are missing, your test may be canceled.”
Driver’s ed is reported for you. The MVA’s driver’s education page says “Your driving school will electronically submit verification of completion to the MVA.” The practice log is the family’s to bring. Under COMAR 11.17.14.12, it’s submitted “in a format determined by the Administration.”
On apps, RD-006 says “The RoadReady App can also be used to record driving hours, using one convenient platform to track on-the-road lessons.” It says record, not submit. We found no MVA source that describes online or electronic submission of the log, and the test page still lists the signed log and certification page. If you plan to bring anything else, ask the MVA first.
Track drives however you like along the way. On test day, what counts is the signed RD-006 log and certification page.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many hours do you need on the Maryland MVA driving log?
At least 60 supervised practice hours, including at least 10 at night, if you're under 25. Learners 25 and older need 14 hours, including at least 3 at night. Both figures come from Transportation Article §16-105 and are listed on the MVA's provisional license page. The 6 behind-the-wheel hours from driver's ed don't count toward either number.
What counts as night driving for the Maryland practice log?
The period from 30 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise. In Baltimore that window opens about 4:17 p.m. on December 21, 2026 and about 8:06 p.m. on June 21, 2026, so a 5 p.m. drive counts as night in December and as day in June. Look up sunset for your own town and date, and count only the minutes that fall inside the window.
Who can supervise and sign the Maryland practice log?
The supervising driver must be at least 21, licensed for at least 3 years in Maryland or another state, and seated in the front passenger seat, with no other front-seat passenger. The certification page has one signature line for a parent, guardian, mentor or coach, while the statute speaks of a log signed by each supervising driver. If several adults supervised, ask the MVA how they want that shown.
Do driver's ed behind-the-wheel hours count toward Maryland's 60 hours?
No. The certification page says the practice hours are in addition to the 6 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction received during the required driver education course. Counting both, a learner under 25 spends at least 66 hours behind the wheel before the skills test.
When do you turn in the Maryland driving log?
At the behind-the-wheel skills test. Bring the signed skills practice log and certification page with your unexpired learner's permit, plus the car's registration, proof of insurance and a licensed supervising driver. The MVA says missing documents can get the test canceled, and it keeps the certification page as part of your license application.
Can I use an app instead of the MVA's practice log?
The MVA's Rookie Driver Manual says the RoadReady app can also be used to record driving hours. The MVA's test page still lists the signed skills practice log and certification page, and COMAR says the log is submitted in a format determined by the Administration. We found no MVA source that accepts an app export in their place, so copy your app record onto the RD-006 pages, and ask the MVA if you're unsure.
What happens to my logged hours if my learner's permit expires?
A Maryland learner's permit is good for 2 years and can't be renewed. If it expires, you retake the knowledge test and get a new permit before the skills test, but the Rookie Driver Manual says you don't need to redo driver education or practice hours completed before the permit expired. Keep your log.
How long do you have to hold a learner's permit in Maryland?
Nine months if you're under 19, unless you're 18 with a high school diploma or equivalent. It's 3 months at 18 with a diploma or at 19 to 24, and 45 days at 25 and older. At any age, you also can't test sooner than 9 months after your most recent moving violation conviction or probation before judgment.