West Virginia supervised driving
How to fill out West Virginia’s DMV-10-GDL driving log
The DMV-10-GDL is titled a 50-Hour Certification Log, and the certification is the point of it: 50 hours of behind-the-wheel practice including 10 at night, sworn to under penalty of perjury and presented when you apply for the Level II graduated licence. The form makes one distinction most logs do not — the adult who initials a practice session and the adult who signs at the end need not be the same person, and the rules for each are different.
Record each session in ink, then certify at the end
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Print the name and permit number in ink, on every sheet
The instruction appears above the grid on each page, and it means what it says: in ink. If the log runs to a photocopied continuation sheet, that sheet needs the applicant’s name and permit number at the top too.
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Copy the example printed above the first row
The form fills in two rows of its own, watermarked EXAMPLE: 2/19/11, City-Interstate, 2:00 PM-5:00, Good, 3 daytime hours, 0 nighttime, initialled SD. Time Period is a range rather than a duration, and the hours go in one of the two Time Spent columns — never both for the same stretch of driving.
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Split the hours between Daytime and Nighttime
Time Spent is two columns, not one, and the pair is what the 10-hour night requirement is read from. A session wholly in daylight fills the Daytime column and leaves Nighttime empty; a drive running past dusk contributes to both.
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Know who may initial and who must sign
The paragraph above the grid draws the line: any licensed driver aged 21 or over may initial a practice session, but a parent or guardian must complete the signature blank at the end. So an older sibling or a grandparent can supervise and initial rows, while the certification itself stays with the parent or guardian.
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Total the hours and swear to them
The last page has a box for total practice hours and a certification naming the applicant and their instruction permit number, confirming 50 hours completed under the supervision of an adult 21 or older with a valid licence. It is signed by the parent or guardian with their own driver’s licence number and the date, under penalty of perjury.
An after-dark session, in the column the form reserves for it
Take twenty minutes of residential practice from 8:10 to 8:30 on the evening of January 5, in clear conditions that turned to rain.
- Date
- 01/05/26
- Location of Practice
- Residential
- Time Period
- 8:10 PM-8:30 PM
- Weather Conditions
- Clear, Rain
- Time Spent Daytime
- A 0, or left empty — none of this session was in daylight
- Time Spent Nighttime
- 0.33 — twenty minutes as a decimal hour
- Initials of Supervising Adult Driver
- The initials of whoever sat beside the driver, provided they are 21 or over
The form’s own example writes whole hours — a 3 against a three-hour drive — but the column is hours either way, so twenty minutes is 0.33 rather than 20. That example also writes a 0 in the column the session did not reach, where a generated log leaves the cell blank; both read the same to whoever totals the sheet, so follow the example if you are filling it by hand. The same afternoon session earlier that day is a separate row with the same date, its hours in the Daytime column instead.
What stops a DMV-10-GDL at the counter
- Assuming the adult who initialled the sessions can also sign the certification — any licensed driver 21 or over may do the first, but only a parent or guardian may do the second.
- Writing a session’s length in the Time Period column, which wants the clock range the driving covered rather than how long it lasted.
- Entering the same hours in both Time Spent columns, which double-counts the session and inflates the night total the certification depends on.
- Photocopying extra sheets but leaving their name and permit number blank, when the instruction to print both in ink sits above every grid.
- Reaching 50 hours without 10 of them after dark, which the two-column split makes visible to whoever reads the log at the counter.
What fills the DMV-10-GDL, and who signs what
The export writes one row per drive, ordered by the date of the drive rather than when you entered it:
| On the DMV-10-GDL GDL Driving Log | Comes from |
|---|---|
| Name / Permit Number | Both come from the export wizard and print at the top of each sheet; the permit number defaults to the number stored against the student, so it does not have to be retyped every time. |
| Date | The drive’s date. Two sessions on one date stay as two rows rather than being merged, matching how the form’s own example records them. |
| Location of Practice | The environment tagged against the drive — residential, city, rural road, highway or interstate, a parking lot. |
| Time Period | The session’s start and end clock times as a range, which is why West Virginia students are asked for both rather than a duration alone. |
| Weather Conditions | The condition tags recorded against that drive, resolved through West Virginia’s list and joined. |
| Time Spent Daytime / Nighttime | That session’s daylight and after-dark portions as decimal hours, each in its own column; a column the session did not reach is left blank rather than zeroed, which reads the same as the 0 the form’s own example writes there. |
| Initials of Supervising Adult Driver | Initials derived from the supervisor on the drive. They are a prompt for that adult’s check, not a replacement for it. |
| Total practice hours | The box on the final page, totalled from the printed rows in the same decimal hours the columns use. |
The whole certification block stays blank: the applicant’s name and permit number in its sentence, the parent or guardian’s signature, their licence number and the date. That paragraph is sworn under penalty of perjury, so it is signed by hand and not before the hours are genuinely complete.
Frequently asked questions
Who is allowed to initial a practice session?
Any licensed driver aged 21 or over, which is broader than most states allow. The signature blank at the end is different — that one must be completed by a parent or guardian.
Are the Time Spent columns in hours or minutes?
Hours. The form’s printed example shows a whole 3 against a three-hour drive, so a twenty-minute session is 0.33 of an hour rather than 20, and the total at the end is in the same unit.
What if I run out of rows?
The form says it may be photocopied when more space is needed. Each additional sheet carries the applicant’s name and permit number at the top, printed in ink like the first.
When is this log handed in?
At the time you apply for the Level II graduated driver’s licence — the banner across the top of the first page says so directly. It is presented rather than posted ahead.
What exactly is being certified at the end?
That the named applicant, identified by instruction permit number, completed at least 50 hours of behind-the-wheel practice, all of it supervised by an adult 21 or older holding a valid licence, and that the driver is prepared to operate a vehicle safely. It is sworn under penalty of perjury.
Track your West Virginia hours
Log every supervised drive and Learner Log keeps the totals ready for the DMV-10-GDL GDL Driving Log.
Still deciding how to keep the record? Compare paper against an app. Not sure where the DMV-10-GDL GDL Driving Log ends up? See submitting a log versus certifying the hours.
Official sources: Official DMV-10-GDL GDL Driving Log. West Virginia licensing instructions. This guide was last reviewed against the official form on ; West Virginia can change its form or instructions at any time, so confirm the current version at the links above. Learner Log is an independent tracking tool, not affiliated with any licensing agency.