Questions and answers

How long is the basic traffic course?

17 lessons

The basic traffic course (trafikalt grunnkurs) is 17 lessons of 45 minutes, spread over at least five sessions. You can only have one session a day, so it takes at least five days.

The course is step 1 of Norwegian driver training and must be finished before you can practise driving. You can start once you are 15.

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A warning triangle stands on the road shoulder behind a stopped car with its hazard lights on, a person in a high-visibility vest seen from behind, dusk.

Length: 17 lessonsof 45 minutes each
Sessions: At least 5one session a day at most
Age limit: 15 yearsreached before the course starts
Exempt from the course: Aged 25 and overbut first aid and night driving still apply

How the 17 lessons are split

Traffic, rules and responsibility · 10 lessonsClassroom, over at least three sessions
Accidents and first aid · 4 lessonsOne lesson is practice at a staged accident
Road user in the dark · 3 lessonsAt least one lesson outdoors and one in a car on the road

17 lessons of 45 minutes is 12 hours and 45 minutes of clock time.

What you do on the course

Ten lessons are about being new in traffic: why the rules on positioning, speed, right of way and signs exist, how other road users think, what motivation and emotions do to your driving, and how practice driving and driving school fit together.

Four lessons cover your duties at a traffic accident and first aid, one of them practical work at a staged accident. Three lessons are about being a road user in the dark: at least one outdoors in an area with little traffic, where you see how pedestrians and drivers see each other, and at least one as a passenger in a car on the road.

Night driving needs darkness

The dark part has to be taken when it is actually dark. If you finish the rest of the course between 16 March and 31 October, you may still practise driving in that period – and take the dark part once it gets dark again.

Who is exempt?

But if you are 25 or over, or only hold AM 146, S or T, you must still take the night-driving and first-aid parts.

People who have taken the basic traffic course before.
Holders, past or present, of a Norwegian licence in classes A1, A2, A, B, AM 146, AM 147, S or T.
People aged 25 or over.
People with a foreign licence that can be exchanged in Norway.

After the course

The driving school reports to Statens vegvesen, which issues the certificate that lets you practise driving. For a car you can practise from 16 – two years before you can get the licence. At lower or upper secondary school, the course can be part of the elective subject traffic; the dark part must then be taken at a driving school.

The theory test comes later, at 17 ½ at the earliest. But it is never too early to try a free theory test – much of what the basic course covers is material for the test.

From the first-aid part: what to do at an accident

The order of actions at a traffic accident – one of the things the course practises.

Sources

Checked against the sources 4 October 2026.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I take the course at school?

Yes, as part of the elective subject traffic from year 9, if you attend at least 80 per cent of the lessons and all of the first-aid training. The dark part is taken at a driving school.

Can I practise driving before the course is finished?

No. The course must be complete before you practise – except the dark part, if you finish the rest between 16 March and 31 October.

How many students are on the course?

Up to 16 in the classroom. The outdoor dark session has up to 6 per teacher, and the car up to 2.