Restrictions on a Driver's License in Virginia: What They Mean

A restriction on a Virginia driver’s license is a condition the DMV attaches to the license itself — corrective lenses, daylight driving only, a mechanical control device on the vehicle — under Va. Code § 46.2-329. Driving in violation of one is a Class 2 misdemeanor, and the DMV can suspend the license on 10 days’ written notice until the restriction is complied with.

What a restriction on a driver’s license actually is

The whole of the DMV’s authority sits in one sentence of § 46.2-329. On issuing a license the Department “may, whenever good cause appears, impose restrictions suitable to the licensee’s driving ability with respect to the type of, or special mechanical control devices required on, a motor vehicle which the licensee may drive, or any other restrictions applicable to the licensee as the Department may determine.”

Three things follow from that wording, and each one answers a question people arrive with.

A restriction is about ability, not punishment. The test in the statute is what is “suitable to the licensee’s driving ability.” A restriction is not a penalty for a ticket and does not follow from a conviction; it follows from something the DMV knows about how safely you can drive.

The list is open-ended. The statute names two categories — the type of vehicle, and special mechanical control devices — and then adds “any other restrictions applicable to the licensee as the Department may determine.” There is no closed list in the Code, which is exactly why no statute anywhere tells you what the letter on your card means.

It is a condition on driving, not a limit on the license. The license is valid. What is limited is the circumstances in which you may use it.

The two different things Virginia calls a restriction

This trips up more readers than anything else on the subject, and § 46.2-329 itself flags it in its final paragraph.

	License restriction	Restricted license
What it is	A condition the DMV prints on an ordinary license	A limited driving privilege a court grants after a suspension
Source	§ 46.2-329	§ 18.2-271.1 E, after a DUI
Typical content	Corrective lenses, daylight only, control devices	A limited privilege on terms the court sets, which under § 18.2-271.1 E must include an ignition interlock condition
Violating it	Class 2 misdemeanor under § 46.2-329	Charged under § 18.2-272

The statute is explicit about the second row: a person who drives in violation of the terms of a restricted license issued under subsection E of § 18.2-271.1 “is not guilty of a violation of this section but is guilty of a violation of § 18.2-272.” They are separate offenses with separate penalties, and a page that treats them as one thing is describing the wrong charge.

What kinds of restriction the DMV actually imposes

The DMV publishes the substance of several restrictions across its own pages, even though it publishes no single legend of codes.

• Corrective lenses. The DMV’s vision requirements page states it plainly: “If you need to wear glasses or contact lenses to pass the vision screening, you must wear them when you drive. Your license will show this restriction.”
• Daylight driving only. The same page sets the standard for it — 20/70 or better vision, corrected or uncorrected, and 70 degrees or better horizontal vision — and defines daylight as “the period of time beginning one-half hour after sunrise and ending one-half hour before sunset.”
• Motorcycle only. The DMV’s motorcycle licensing page explains that a license showing an M, M2 or M3 designation together with a “6” under Restrictions authorizes motorcycles and not cars. That is § 46.2-328 C at work, which requires a motorcycle classification to show any further restriction to two wheels or three. How that designation is earned in the first place is covered under a Virginia motorcycle license.
• Limited duration. On the driver privilege card the DMV says the card “will display ‘D’ under the ‘Class’ heading and ‘9’ under ‘Restrictions,’” and that the back decodes “9” as “Limited duration (See expiration date on front).”
• Adaptive equipment. The “special mechanical control devices” in § 46.2-329 cover hand controls, left-foot accelerators, spinner knobs and similar equipment fitted to a vehicle.

Why you cannot look up the letter on your own license

There is no table of Virginia restriction letters in the Code of Virginia, and as of September 2026 the DMV publishes a letter legend for commercial licenses only, on its CDL classifications page. Those are commercial codes under a different statute and they do not describe an ordinary license.

What the DMV does say is where the answer lives. On the driver privilege card page it explains that the back of the card decodes both the class and the restriction. That is the authoritative source for your own license: the card in your hand. The longer version of this problem, including why other states’ lists are actively misleading, is on Virginia driver’s license restriction codes.

Driving against a restriction is a criminal charge

Section 46.2-329 makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor for a person issued a license “on which there are printed or stamped restrictions as provided by this section” to drive in violation of them. Under § 18.2-11, a Class 2 misdemeanor carries confinement in jail for not more than six months and a fine of not more than $1,000, either or both.

The administrative consequence runs alongside the criminal one. Where the DMV’s records show a licensee “has failed or refused to comply with the restrictions imposed,” the Department may, after 10 days’ written notice to the address in its records, suspend the license — and that suspension stays in effect until the section has been complied with. Notice goes to the address the DMV has on file, which is why § 46.2-324 requires license holders to tell the Department when they move.

Whether a particular set of facts amounts to driving in violation of a restriction is a question for the court hearing it, and a Virginia traffic attorney can review an individual charge.

How a restriction is added, changed or removed

Restrictions are not permanent. Section 46.2-328 D gives the DMV power to “make any changes in the classifications and endorsements during the validity of the license as may be appropriate,” and § 46.2-329 ties a restriction to current driving ability, which can change.

Most restrictions are set or removed through one of two routes:

1. A screening or examination at the DMV. Section 46.2-325 A requires the DMV to examine every applicant to determine “his physical and mental qualifications and his ability to drive a motor vehicle without jeopardizing the safety of persons or property.” A vision screening at a customer service center is the version of that most drivers meet, including at renewal under § 46.2-330.
2. The DMV’s medical review process. Where a medical or visual condition may affect safe driving, the DMV asks for a statement from a physician, physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner, and may require a vision report from an ophthalmologist or optometrist, a driver rehabilitation evaluation, or the knowledge and road skills tests. The medical review outcome may be to suspend, to restrict, to require an evaluation, or to require periodic reports.

The most common removal request has its own procedure: see how to remove a corrective lenses restriction.

Finding out what is on your record

If the card is not to hand, the restriction is on your DMV driving record. Section 46.2-208 governs who may see Department records and on what terms, and the DMV sells a copy of your own driver record. The record is also where a restriction added by the medical review process will appear before a replacement card arrives.

Two things worth knowing before you order one. A restriction does not put points on your license — points come from convictions, not conditions. And the class shown on the record is a separate field from the restriction: what a Class D license means in Virginia covers that side of the card.

What a restriction is not

Four things a restriction is routinely confused with, and none of them is what § 46.2-329 describes.

It is not a suspension. The license is live and valid. A suspension takes the privilege away; a restriction shapes it. The DMV can suspend a license over a restriction, but only after the 10 days’ written notice the section requires and only for non-compliance.

It does not put points on your record. Demerit points in Virginia follow convictions. A restriction is an administrative condition attached at issue or after a review, so nothing is added to the record as a penalty.

It is not a court order. No judge imposes a § 46.2-329 restriction. The Department imposes it, which is also why removing one is a DMV process rather than a court motion — the opposite of a restricted license under § 18.2-271.1 E.

It is not permanent. Section 46.2-329 measures a restriction against present driving ability, and § 46.2-328 D lets the DMV change what a license carries while it is still valid.

If you believe a restriction on your license is wrong, the DMV’s medical review service has a published appeals process, and its correspondence explains which review your case sits in. Start from the restriction printed on the card, not from a list found online.