Arkansas Motorcycle Safety Course
Verified against Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Driver Services ·
Compiled and verified against primary state DMV/DPS/BMV sources by GetMotorcycleLicense Research Team — cite-or-deny, with no invented figures. How we source & verify →
Arkansas does not require any rider to complete a motorcycle safety course before getting the license. This page covers who runs the course, what it costs, how long it takes, and exactly which tests completing it can waive.
Arkansas's motorcycle safety course requirements — including completion waiving the state skills test if within 3 months — are verified against Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Driver Services (see Arkansas Code § 27-20-108(b)(3) (operator's examination — road-test waiver) — Arkansas Motor Vehicle and Traffic Laws, 2021 Edition), current as of 2026-07-28.
Arkansas Motorcycle Safety Course at a Glance
| Program | — |
|---|---|
| Who runs it | Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Driver Services |
| Delivery model | No statewide programThe state runs no identifiable statewide rider-training program. |
| Typical cost | — |
| Course length | — |
| Mandatory under age | No — not required at any age |
| Waives the riding skills test | Yes, if within 3 months |
| Waives the knowledge test | No |
Arkansas has no statewide rider-training programme of its own. The Arkansas Highway Safety Office describes its motorcycle work as public-awareness campaigning — share-the-road messaging at rallies around the state — rather than the delivery of rider training, and it has recorded that Arkansas was one of three states without a statewide motorcycle safety program at the time it was designated the state authority for motorcyclist safety. Riders train instead through independently operated Motorcycle Safety Foundation schools, rider-advocacy chapters such as ABATE, and dealership riding academies around the state; the Division of Arkansas State Police accepts a completion certificate from any of them for the road-test waiver regardless of which issued it, and publishes neither a list of approved providers nor a statewide tuition figure.
What Arkansas’s course covers
Arkansas teaches the Basic RiderCourse (BRC), the current Motorcycle Safety Foundation curriculum that succeeded the course named in statute, 'Riding and Street Skills', developed by Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Full detail here.
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Basic RiderCourse is designed for beginning riders aged 16 and up, pairing about five hours of classroom or online learning with about ten hours of on-motorcycle training, and it ends in a written knowledge test and a rider skills test.
Once you complete the course, see license requirements in Arkansas.
Source Notes
Where a source is stale, conflicting, or required a judgment call, we document it here rather than presenting a single confident-sounding number. See our methodology for how these calls are made.
- Licence classes, ages and fees come from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Testing procedures, the road-test waiver and helmet and eye-protection rules come from the Arkansas Code, as compiled in the Arkansas Motor Vehicle and Traffic Laws book. Arkansas State Police, not DFA, administers the written and road examinations and issues the instruction permit.
- Arkansas has no statewide motorcycle training programme; the Arkansas Highway Safety Office describes its own role as public-awareness campaigning rather than rider training. Riders train through independent Motorcycle Safety Foundation schools, rider groups and dealership academies, any of which can supply the certificate that waives the road test.
- Completing a recognised rider course waives the road test only, not the written knowledge test, and the completion certificate must be dated within 90 days of the license application.
- Arkansas's helmet law applies only to a rider under 21. Every rider, regardless of age, must wear eye protection.
means no primary source publishes that figure — left blank on purpose rather than estimated or copied from an unverified aggregator.
Sources
Data last verified: 2026-07-28 (verified by: agent) | Source: Arkansas Code § 27-20-108(b)(3) (operator's examination — road-test waiver) — Arkansas Motor Vehicle and Traffic Laws, 2021 Edition