Virginia Motorcycle Safety Course
Verified against Virginia Rider Training 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 Virginia, riders under 18 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.
Virginia's motorcycle safety course requirements — including completion waiving the state skills test if within 12 months — are verified against Virginia Rider Training Program (see Virginia DMV — Virginia Rider Training Program), current as of 2026-07-28.
Virginia Motorcycle Safety Course at a Glance
| Program | Virginia Rider Training Program |
|---|---|
| Who runs it | independent motorcycle safety companies certified to deliver Motorcycle Safety Foundation courses, located through DMV's own zip-code course finder |
| Delivery model | State-approved sponsorsThe state licenses sponsors, who set their own tuition; the rider picks among them at market price. |
| Typical cost | — |
| Course length | — |
| Mandatory under age | Yes, under 18 |
| Waives the riding skills test | Yes, if within 12 months |
| Waives the knowledge test | Yes, if within 12 months |
DMV's own rider training page routes applicants to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's national course locator (Basic RiderCourse, Basic RiderCourse2, Advanced RiderCourse) by zip code; the rider then contacts an independent company directly to enrol and pay. Each company sets its own tuition, which DMV does not certify, subsidise or publish. A separately branded 'Free Advanced Rider Training' course, booked through a different provider's own site, offers a no-cost advanced session for experienced riders. Completing a course is mandatory under 18 alongside the nine-month permit hold, and optional at 18 and older, where it substitutes for the standard knowledge-exam-plus-30-day-hold-plus-skills-test route. For a rider 19 or older, the completion certificate also acts as a temporary M2 or M3 classification for 30 days from the course date, letting the rider operate before visiting DMV, provided the classification is then added within that 30-day window.
What Virginia’s course covers
Virginia teaches the Basic RiderCourse (BRC), 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 Virginia.
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 classifications, permits, tests and fees come from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Helmet and eye-protection rules come from the Code of Virginia.
- Virginia requires a helmet of every motorcycle operator and passenger, regardless of age. There is no adult exemption.
- Virginia does not run its own rider-training sites. Course providers are independent companies found through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's national locator, and each sets its own price.
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: Virginia DMV — Virginia Rider Training Program