California Motorcycle Safety Course
Verified against California Motorcyclist Safety Program ·
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 →
In California, riders under 21 must complete a motorcycle safety course before they can get the license. This page covers who runs the course, what it costs, how long it takes, and exactly which tests completing it can waive.
California's motorcycle safety course requirements — including completion waiving the state skills test if within 12 months — are verified against California Motorcyclist Safety Program (see California Highway Patrol — California Motorcyclist Safety Program), current as of 2026-07-28.
California Motorcycle Safety Course at a Glance
| Program | California Motorcyclist Safety Program |
|---|---|
| Who runs it | California Highway Patrol, through its primary contractor Total Control Training, Inc. |
| Delivery model | One statewide contractorA single contractor holds the statewide training contract. |
| Typical cost | — |
| Course length | 15 hours |
| Mandatory under age | Yes, under 21 |
| Waives the riding skills test | Yes, if within 12 months |
| Waives the knowledge test | No |
The CMSP teaches a 15-hour Motorcyclist Training Course made up of 5 hours of classroom instruction and 10 hours of riding. It also offers the Premier Program, an extended course of 7.5 classroom hours and 13.5 riding hours that reaches intermediate skills and the skills-test waiver in one day for riders 21 and older who pass an entry skills exam.
Course tuition is set by the individual training site and is not published centrally. The CMSP operates more than 100 training locations across California.
What California’s course covers
California teaches the Motorcyclist Training Course (MTC), developed by Total Control Training, Inc.. Full detail here.
The Motorcyclist Training Course is the 15-hour entry-level course of the California Motorcyclist Safety Program — five hours of classroom instruction and ten hours of actual riding — and completing it produces a skills waiver that removes the DMV riding test.
How California differs: The CMSP teaches a 15-hour Motorcyclist Training Course made up of 5 hours of classroom instruction and 10 hours of riding. It also offers the Premier Program, an extended course of 7.5 classroom hours and 13.5 riding hours that reaches intermediate skills and the skills-test waiver in one day for riders 21 and older who pass an entry skills exam.
Once you complete the course, see license requirements in California.
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, permit rules and fees come from the California DMV. Training facts come from the California Highway Patrol, which administers the California Motorcyclist Safety Program, and from the program's own site. Helmet rules come from the California Vehicle Code.
- Two state agencies name this course differently. The CMSP is run by the California Highway Patrol, which calls the course the Motorcyclist Training Course and names Total Control Training, Inc. as its contractor. Some DMV pages still call the same 15-hour course a Basic Rider Course, a name belonging to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's separate curriculum. This page follows the CHP as the agency that administers the programme under Vehicle Code sections 2930 to 2935.
- CMSP course prices are set by each training site and are not published centrally, so no tuition figure is shown here.
- The DMV publishes two different motorcycle retest fees: $7 on its motorcycle licensing page and $9 on its general licensing fee schedule. The motorcycle-specific figure is shown here.
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: California Highway Patrol — California Motorcyclist Safety Program