(a) (1) (A) Except for the intermediate driver's license and the learner's license, every driver's license shall expire at the end of the month in which it was issued four (4) years from its date of initial issuance unless the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles shall provide, by regulation, for some other staggered basis of expiration.
(B) A learner's license shall be issued for no more than a two-year period and shall expire upon the driver reaching sixteen (16) years of age. Any person sixteen (16) years of age may apply for an intermediate driver's license provided that his or her driving record is free of a serious accident and conviction of a serious traffic violation for the most recent six-month period.
(C) Intermediate drivers' licenses shall be issued for no more than a two-year period and shall expire upon the driver reaching age eighteen (18) years of age and may be renewed at that time as a regular driver's license for four (4) years, so long as the intermediate driver has been free of a serious accident and conviction of a serious traffic violation for at least twelve (12) months prior to arriving at his or her eighteenth birthday.
(2) (A) The commissioner shall have the authority, by regulation, to shorten or lengthen the term of any driver's license period, as necessary, to ensure that approximately twenty-five percent (25%) of the total valid licenses are renewable each fiscal year.
(B) (i) All drivers' licenses subject to change under this subsection shall also be subject to a pro rata adjustment of the license fee charged in § 27-16-801(a).
(ii) The adjustment of the fee shall be carried out in the manner determined by the commissioner by regulation.
(b) Every driver's license shall be renewable on or before its expiration upon completion of an application, payment of the fees designated in § 27-16-801, and passage of the eyesight test required in § 27-16-704 and shall be renewed without other examination, unless the commissioner has reason to believe that the licensee is no longer qualified to receive a license.
History. Acts 1937, No. 280, § 22; Pope's Dig., § 6846; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-326; Acts 1989, No. 193, § 6; 1993, No. 445, § 24; 2001, No. 1694, § 8.
A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2001, No. 1694, § 9, provided:
“This act shall be effective July 1, 2002.”
Amendments. The 2001 amendment, in (a)(1)(A), substituted “Except for the license, every driver's” for “Every driver's,” and substituted “Commissioner of Motor Vehicles” for “commissioner”; added (a)(1)(B) and made related changes; and made minor stylistic changes.