Driving alone at 17

BF17 Special permit

It is theoretically possible, but very difficult to maintain in practice: The special permit for accompanied driving, which allows you to drive alone without an accompanying person despite having a driving licence of 17. When the pilot project was launched in Lower Saxony in 2009, the initiators promised one thing above all: to reduce the risk of accidents among young drivers. Young adults still have the highest accident risk in road traffic worldwide. Especially at the beginning, during the first trips, which are carried out alone, the low driving experience leads to more accidents.

Driving alone at 17?. You'll need the BF17 special permit for that.

The effort can be worth it.

But that happens very rarely.

In individual cases the effort can be worthwhile, e.g. if you as an apprentice have no other option than to get to your training place by car. But even in this case, the standards that a judge would apply to assess your situation are not easy to meet.


Your situation must be very different from that of other young people. In plain language, this means that you would have to suffer very serious disadvantages, which would outweigh the increased risk in road traffic caused by you as a minor driver. All other options are also played through in detail. It may happen that a station on the route or an overnight stay near the workplace reduces your chances of obtaining a special permit. It's based on the assumption that you can ride your bike to the station.

In addition, a medical-psychological report will be prepared to document whether you are mentally and physically able to drive alone and whether you can handle the responsibility. A positive decision is the basis for all further steps.

If your request has cleared all these hurdles, the driving licence authority can still act very restrictively and may only allow you to drive certain routes alone at certain times of the day.

Happy boy sits in car and gets car key

Find your BF17 Driving School

You've become curious about accompanied driving? Well then search here now fast and comfortably your quality driving school in the environment and start the driving licence with 17.

Roller as an alternative

An alternative to the special permit may be a scooter or another two-wheeled driving licence. The best way to start is with your moped driving license. The minimum age here is 15 years and if you start on time, you can take the exam three months before your 15th birthday.

Vespa driver with helmet in Italy.

Find your scooter driving school

Freedom on two wheels already exists from 16! That means you can start earlier and save yourself the trouble with the special permit.