2016 Delaware Code
Title 21 - Motor Vehicles
CHAPTER 27. DRIVER'S LICENSE
Subchapter I General Provisions
§ 2707. License qualifications.

(a)(1) No Class D operator's license shall be issued to any person under the age of 16 years. A CDL Class A, CDL Class B or CDL Class C license shall not be issued to any person under 18 years of age nor to any person 18 years of age or older who has not had at least 1 year's experience as an operator of a motor vehicle.

(2) No endorsement for "L", "T", "P" or "N" shall be issued to any person under 18 years of age or to any person 18 years of age or older who has not had at least 1 year's experience as an operator of a motor vehicle. No endorsement of "H" or "X" shall be issued to any person under 21 years of age or to any person 21 years of age or older who has not had at least 1 year's experience as an operator of a motor vehicle.

(b) The Department shall not issue an operator's or chauffeur's license to any:

(1) Person whose license has been suspended, during the period for which license was suspended;

(2) Person whose license has been revoked under this chapter until the expiration of 1 year after such license was revoked;

(3) Person whom it has determined is an habitual drunkard or is addicted to the use of narcotic drugs;

(4) Person when in the opinion of the Department such person is a person with a physical or mental disability or disease as will serve to prevent such person from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor vehicle while operating the same upon the highways;

(5) Person who is unable to understand highway warning or direction signs in the English language;

(6) Person who is subject to loss of consciousness due to disease of the central nervous system, unless such person furnishes the Department with a certificate of the person's treating physician, duly licensed to practice medicine and surgery, which certificate states:

"I ____ (name of treating physician) hereby certify that I am the treating physician for ____ (name of person), that I have been the treating physician for him/her for a period of at least 3 months, that I am aware of his/her medical history, including his/her history with respect to diseases of the central nervous system, and that such person's physical or mental disability under sufficient control to permit him/her to operate a motor vehicle with safety to person and property."

Each person licensed to operate a motor vehicle on the basis of such certificate shall furnish the Department with a new certificate each year not later than the last day of the holder's birth month and not earlier than 45 days before said date. The certificate shall show that on the basis of an examination within said period a physician duly licensed to practice medicine and surgery has determined that the physical or mental disability remains under sufficient control to permit the person to operate a motor vehicle with safety to person and property. Except as provided below, if such certificate is not received by the Department, the Department shall suspend said license and shall notify its holder.

The above provision of this paragraph notwithstanding, if the person's treating physician, duly licensed to practice medicine and surgery, furnishes the Department with a certificate which states:

"I ____ (name of treating physician) hereby certify that I am the treating physician for ____ (name of person), that I have been the treating physician for him/her for a period of at least 3 months, that I am aware of his/her medical history, including his/her history with respect to any disease of the central nervous system, that such person's disease no longer requires treatment and that such person can reasonably be expected to suffer no further losses of consciousness on account of such disease.";

the Department may find that the person need no longer submit annual certificates of competence to operate a motor vehicle and shall notify the person accordingly. The Department may at its discretion retain medical consultants to advise it. No physician who examines a person and provides a certificate in good faith in accordance with this paragraph shall be subject to any civil or criminal liability on account of having provided the certificate.

(7) Person who has not reached the person's eighteenth birthday unless such person has either:

a. Completed a course in driver education in a public or private high school in this State, such course having been approved by the State Board of Education and meeting the standards for such courses described by that Board; or

b. Been licensed to operate motor vehicles in another state and has completed a course of instruction in driver education and the safe operation of motor vehicles in a public or private high school outside this State.

(8) Person who has not reached the person's eighteenth birthday upon notification by the Family Court of the State pursuant to § 1009 of Title 10, for a time set by the Court in its discretion.

(9) Except as provided by § 1012 of Title 10, a person who has not reached the person's twenty-first birthday at the time of the offense, who has been convicted of or pleads guilty to, including a conviction or guilty plea pursuant to § 4767 of Title 16 and qualifying for first offender election under § 4177B of this title, any of the offenses listed hereinafter or who has been adjudicated delinquent as a result of acts which would constitute such offense if committed by an adult, for a period of 2 years from the date of sentencing, or until said person's eighteenth birthday, whichever is longer. The following shall constitute offenses under this paragraph:

a. Any drug offense under Title 16.

b. Any drug offense under Chapter 5 of Title 11.

c. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs as defined in § 4177 of this title.

d. Any offense punishable under the laws of the United States or any state of the United States substantially conforming to the provisions of the Delaware Code listed in paragraph (b)(9)a., b. or c. of this section.

Upon entry of conviction or adjudication of delinquency for any offense included in this paragraph, the Clerk of the Court or other person designated by the Court shall forthwith report such conviction or adjudication of delinquency to the Division of Motor Vehicles for action pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph.

(10) Person, other than those persons covered by paragraphs (b)(8) and (9) of this section, who has been convicted of or pleads guilty to any of the offenses listed in paragraph (b)(9)a., b., c. or d. of this section, including a conviction or guilty plea pursuant to § 4767 of Title 16 and qualifying for first offender election under § 4177B of this title, or who has been adjudicated delinquent as a result of acts which would constitute such an offense if committed by an adult, for a period of 6 months after the individual otherwise would have been eligible to have a driver's license issued if the individual does not have a driver's license or reinstated if the driver's license of the person has been suspended at the time the person is so convicted.

(11) Person who is the subject of an outstanding capias or bench warrant issued by the Family Court for failure to appear at any paternity or child support proceeding, or with respect to whom the Department has received notification from the Family Court as provided in § 516(g) of Title 13, or notice from the Director of the Division of Child Support Services as provided in § 2216 of Title 13 regarding the denial or suspension of a license because of such person's child support delinquency.

(12) Person who has been expelled from a public school, where the Department has been notified by the school of such expulsion, until the expelled person presents such proof to the Department as the Department may require that such person complies with one of the requirements set forth in § 4130(e)(2) of Title 14.

(13) Person deemed "not eligible" by a Family Court Judge or Commissioner pursuant to entry into the Family Court Adjudicated Juvenile Drug Court Program until a further order of the Court permitting licensing.

36 Del. Laws, c. 10, § 54; Code 1935, § 5592; 41 Del. Laws, c. 228, § 1; 43 Del. Laws, c. 246; 45 Del. Laws, c. 289; 21 Del. C. 1953, § 2706; 49 Del. Laws, c. 57, § 1; 55 Del. Laws, c. 361, §§ 1, 2; 56 Del. Laws, c. 390, § 1; 59 Del. Laws, c. 307, § 3; 59 Del. Laws, c. 327, § 1; 62 Del. Laws, c. 237, §§ 12-15; 64 Del. Laws, c. 183, § 1; 67 Del. Laws, c. 108, § 1; 67 Del. Laws, c. 157, § 3; 67 Del. Laws, c. 429, §§ 1, 2; 69 Del. Laws, c. 125, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 18, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 452, § 3; 70 Del. Laws, c. 471, §§ 1, 2; 71 Del. Laws, c. 107, § 1; 71 Del. Laws, c. 216, § 82; 71 Del. Laws, c. 272, § 3; 72 Del. Laws, c. 57, § 1; 72 Del. Laws, c. 477, § 2; 73 Del. Laws, c. 34, § 3; 73 Del. Laws, c. 408, § 2; 74 Del. Laws, c. 135, § 4; 78 Del. Laws, c. 13, § 69; 78 Del. Laws, c. 179, § 270; 79 Del. Laws, c. 371, §§ 17, 18; 80 Del. Laws, c. 234, § 21.;